Trump’s demand that US could take over Ukraine’s reactors is not credible | Ukraine

As a demand, it is Donald Trump at his most confusing. The American president appears, at least according to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, to have told Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday that “American ownership” of Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants would be their best protection in future – although the Ukrainian president said … Read more

Ignored by Trump and menaced by Putin, the UK turns to the EU for defensive ties | Defence policy

Donald Trump’s isolationism and Vladimir Putin’s menace leaves post-Brexit Britain in a delicate position. While the combination of US disengagement from Europe and the reality of Russian aggression has forced a reappraisal of security across the continent, Britain’s half-in, half-out status makes for complications. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, wanted to showcase Britain’s credentials as … Read more

Europe doesn’t need Trump to form a western alliance – and one is already taking shape | Martin Kettle

An Atlantic alliance without the United States? It sounds like a contradiction in terms – Hamlet without the prince. Yet this is the improbable, disjunctive world we now inhabit. It is the one in which our children and grandchildren will live their lives. Like it or not, the systemic shock launched by Donald Trump is … Read more

The Guardian view on Germany’s new coalition: unleashing the radical centre | Editorial

The first “grand coalition” government in Germany’s postwar history was formed in 1966 to address an unexpected economic downturn, amid concerns over a nascent neo-Nazi far right. Nearly six decades later, as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic party (SPD) prepare to join forces across the right-left divide for the fifth time, … Read more

How would I survive the apocalypse? By stocking up on the key item most preppers forget | Emma Brockes

It’s a fairly strong indication that your US presidency is not going well when, within three months of you taking office, one of your closest allies feels the need to issue its entire population with a manual on how to survive an “imminent threat”. According to French media reports, that is what the French government … Read more

So bold are Putin’s ceasefire demands, it’s hard to believe he is entirely serious | Russia

Donald Trump began his conversation with Vladimir Putin with a simple demand: a 30-day ceasefire on land, sea and air which Ukraine has already signed up to, as an initial measure on which to build towards a peace. Instead, what the US president got from Putin were questions, half-offers and limited concessions – and, above … Read more