Merz urges Trump: Ukraine cannot surrender any more land.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was in Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump, said he emphasized that Ukraine should not be forced to concede any more territory during his discussion with the American leader. He added that sustained assistance for Ukraine remains essential, noting that the country marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full‑scale invasion last week. “We all hope this conflict ends as quickly as possible, but Ukraine must retain its land and its security interests,” Merz remarked at the start of his third visit to the Oval Office. He told journalists that he believed Trump grasped the point after Merz showed him a map of the battered nation.

Trump told Merz that reaching a settlement to end the Russia‑Ukraine war stays “very high” on his agenda, and said he thought the United States possessed ample ammunition to confront Iran and could provide it to Europe for use in Ukraine.

Merz also pressed Trump to increase pressure on Vladimir Putin over the Ukrainian war. “Russia is buying time here, and in doing so is also acting contrary to the wishes of the American president. In today’s talks I called for tightening the squeeze on Moscow,” the German leader said to reporters. The United States, Russia and Ukraine are engaged in trilateral talks aimed at forging a peace arrangement. Merz, however, argued that only a deal backed by Europe could endure. “We will not accept an agreement negotiated behind our backs,” he asserted.

A suspected Russian “shadow‑fleet” oil tanker seized by Belgium is being held on a €10 million bond after inspections uncovered violations, Brussels announced on Tuesday. The vessel, named Ethera, which Belgian authorities claim belongs to a fleet of aging ships that Moscow uses to evade Western sanctions, was captured by Belgian special forces in the North Sea on Sunday. Follow‑up investigations after the ship was taken to the port of Zeebrugge confirmed it had been sailing under a falsified Guinean flag, the Belgian government said. Inspectors recorded 45 breaches, including technical shortcomings, leading to the vessel’s detention. The Russian captain and the crew of 20 were ordered to stay aboard. “The ship will depart the port only once it complies with regulations and the deposit is paid,” said Belgium’s mobility minister Jean‑Luc Crucke. Russia has previously described the seizure of its tankers and other cargo vessels as acts of piracy.

The United States has fielded a low‑cost combat drone in Iran modeled on the Iranian Shahed, as it seeks to speed up weapons programmes in the aftermath of the Ukraine conflict. The Low‑Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone was deployed just eight months after its Pentagon debut. Defence officials said the accelerated schedule reflected lessons drawn from observing drone warfare in Ukraine, where both sides have employed thousands of inexpensive unmanned systems.