US-mediated talks open Tuesday with Russia sending a heavier team, Ukraine led by its spy chief and Europe pushing for a seat. Here is who is going, what is on the agenda and where past rounds broke down.
A double strike on a school used to hand out aid in Zaporizhzhia killed at least 31 people. Hours later, Washington announced the first US-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks since February.
Federal law makes it a crime to send troops to a polling place. Governors can still use the Guard for some election jobs, and the Pentagon’s cyber forces are already working on the midterms.
Kyiv’s count is a new monthly high and close to Zelenskyy’s 50,000 target. Ukraine now wants to double drone output to about 16 million next year, while it presses Washington over delayed interceptors.
The first Russian diesel cargo is on its way to the U.S. Analysts say it will shave a few cents off a gallon while handing Moscow cash and leverage over Ukraine’s refinery strikes.
Russia and Ukraine have both endorsed a pause in fighting in occupied Oleshky, brokered by Melania Trump, so aid can enter and residents can leave.
France puts 70,000 police on the streets for Saturday’s protests as Paris extends its curfew, Marseille and Lyon ban marches and a legal challenge to Macron’s union-only rule reaches the Council of State.
Hours after Putin agreed “in principle” to new three-way talks, Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv, three with cluster warheads. On Thursday, Putin said the talks would aim at a final deal, not a short truce.
Macron called a defence council for Oct. 23 ahead of another nationwide protest day, as France bans non-union marches, feuds with Trump and watches its borrowing costs climb.
Turkey will ask parliament to let it send air defense and electronic warfare specialists to Saudi Arabia under the Mecca pact. The same day, Ankara signed a defense-industry memorandum with Qatar, Indonesia and Pakistan in Doha.