#Macron added that if #Putin could win what he wanted by force, then he would not be willing to negotiate. “I am not convinced that President Putin also wants peace,”he said. “His ultimate goal is to gain as much #territory as he can, to weaken #Ukraine.” #Security guarantees & peacekeeping ops will be needed so that Russia does not attempt to enter Ukraine again, he said. Macron also said there was no discussion among #EU leaders meeting with #Trump about #Russia & Ukraine swapping territories.

After #Trump - #Zelensky private meeting, Trump spoke from the room where #Europe leaders had lunch.

He said:
* He will try to work out trilateral meeting with US, Ukraine & #Russia
* Russia agreed to accept #security guarantees
* Optimistic all will reach a collective agreement to deter aggression on Ukraine
* also need to discuss the possible exchanges of #territory
* He thinks a resolution is possible today

Ukraine’s Constitution bars ceding #territory other than through a nationwide referendum. A recent poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 78% of Ukrainians were against transferring territory controlled by #Ukraine to #Russia.

The Kremlin typically sees the #Donbas as comprising the Donetsk & Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has taken nearly all of #Luhansk, but despite trying for more than a decade, it hasn’t managed to wrest control of the #Donetsk region.

#Merz again urged that #Israel desist from annexing any further #territory in the #WestBank.

But the chancellor also underscored that Israel was obligated to provide for the #nutrition & #health of Gazans, saying that, having decided on a further offensive in an already devastated #Gaza, “the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before for providing for their needs.”

2 govt sources said any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday.

…Total control of the #territory would reverse a 2005 decision by #Israel by which it withdrew Israeli citizens & soldiers from #Gaza, while retaining #control over its borders, airspace & utilities.

"We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body."

#Netanyahu said #Israel wanted to hand the territory to #Arab forces that would govern it. He did not elaborate on the governance arrangements or which Arab countries could be involved.

He made the comments to FauxNews ahead of a meeting with a small group of senior ministers to discuss plans for the #military to take #control of more #territory in #Gaza.