News Wrap: Negotiations to end Ukraine war stalled

William Brangham:

We begin the day's other headlines with the latest on the international effort to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

As those negotiations have stalled, there is a new ultimatum from the Trump administration. Earlier today, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrapped up a marathon series of talks in Paris with both Ukrainian and top European officials. Rubio, on his way out, said the U.S. may — quote — "move on" from trying to broker a peace deal if progress isn't made soon.

Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State: We're not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable over the next few weeks. If it is, we're in. If it's not, then we have other priorities to focus on as well.

William Brangham:

In Washington, President Trump echoed that warning, but stopped short of saying he's ready to walk away. He pushed back against the suggestion that Russia is taking advantage of his patience.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: I know when people are playing us, and I know when they're not, and I have to see an enthusiasm to want to end it. And I think I see that enthusiasm. I think I see it from both sides. But you're going to know soon.

Question:

Do you think Russia is playing you? Do you think Russia is playing you?

Donald Trump:

No, nobody's playing me. I'm trying to help.

William Brangham:

All of this unfolded as the war grinds on. Russian missiles today rained down on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Officials say one person was killed and nearly 100 others were wounded.

In Yemen, Houthi rebels say U.S. airstrikes overnight killed at least 74 people and injured more than 170 others. The strikes targeted an oil port on the Red Sea. It was the deadliest known attack yet in America's campaign against the Houthis. The Iranian-backed militants released video that showed massive fires on the ground and fuel trucks in flames. The U.S. military has not said whether any of the casualties were civilians.

Power has been mostly restored in Puerto Rico almost two days after a blackout put the entire island in the dark. More than one million customers lost their electricity on Wednesday, and over 400,000 of them were also without water because of the outage. Officials say a major transmission line failed, but it remains unclear what caused that. This was the second massive blackout to hit Puerto Rico in the last four months.

And in another court ruling over the power of the executive branch, in Wisconsin today, the state Supreme Court upheld a very unique partial veto power that the governor has. Governor Tony Evers used that power back in 2023 to lock in a school funding increase for the next 400 years.

At the heart of the case was Evers' ability to veto even the tiniest parts of a bill to dramatically alter its meaning. By striking individual words and numbers in the legislation, he approved more school revenue increases until literally the year 2425. Wisconsin's Supreme Court has been embroiled in national politics recently, with Elon Musk pouring millions into a race to back a conservative judge who lost. It was the most expensive judicial contest in American history.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the lessons the U.S. could learn from one Canadian city that removed fluoride from its water supply; the potential impact of deep-sea mining, as the Trump administration considers pushing ahead with the practice; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's headlines; plus much more.