Donald Trump has agreed to “coordinate” security guarantees for Ukraine with European leaders, following landmark talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House yesterday, says the FT, but stopped short of a “full-throated commitment” of American military support. The US president also pledged to arrange a summit between Zelensky and Vladimir Putin in the coming weeks, though the Kremlin is yet to confirm that Putin would attend. Hamas says it accepts a proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire deal negotiated by Egypt and Qatar, that would include the release of around half the 20 living Israeli hostages as part of a phased end to the war. Israel is yet to respond, though Benjamin Netanyahu has previously rejected “part deals”, saying the war can only end when all the hostages are returned. Fat jabs are coming for pets. Veterinary versions of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro have proven effective in helping overfed cats resist that second bowl of Whiskas, and trials are now being extended to dogs. Porky pooches will have the drugs administered via implants, rather than injections.

How India funds Putin’s war machine

Here’s how “India-Russia oil mathematics” works, says White House trade counsellor Peter Navarro in the FT: American consumers buy Indian goods; India uses those dollars to buy discounted Russian crude oil, which is then refined and resold around the world by Indian profiteers; and Russia pockets hard currency to fund its war machine in Ukraine. It’s big business – India’s politically connected energy titans are exporting more than a million and a half barrels of refined petroleum products a day, bolstering Vladimir Putin’s war chest while US and European taxpayers spend untold billions defending Nato’s eastern flank. Joe Biden looked the other way on this “geopolitical madness”, but not Donald Trump. His new tariff rate of 50% is intended to “hit India where it hurts”. If the country wants to be treated as a “strategic partner” of the US, “it needs to start acting like one”.

India won’t abandon Russia, says Sumit Ganguly in Foreign Policy. For starters, some 60% of India’s military kit is of Soviet or Russian origin (and unlike Western partners, Moscow imposes few constraints). Delhi has tried to diversify its arsenal, but couldn’t terminate arms arrangements with Moscow without seriously endangering its security. There would also be a strategic cost: Delhi is wary of the growing closeness between Moscow and Beijing, its “long-term arch-rival”. Indian officials fear any frostiness with Russia could contribute to greater warmth between Russia and China. And then there’s the long history of “mostly cooperative” relations between the two countries, including the Soviet Union reliably vetoing UN resolutions that favoured Pakistan in Kashmir. With Trump’s “mercurial policy choices” bolstering Indian suspicions about American reliability, Delhi may decide that “turning toward Russia provides it with a safe harbour”.