Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, President Donald Trump called for both Ukraine and Russia to stop the war at the current battle lines, urging both sides to "go home, go to their families, stop the killing" and claim victory.

Trump reiterated this stance in a Truth Social post, stating, "They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide!" Zelenskyy described the meeting as "productive" and "long," emphasizing that both leaders agreed not to make statements about long-range strikes into Russia to avoid escalation, as the United States does not want further tension.

Trump had declined to commit to supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles, citing the need to maintain U.S. stockpiles and a desire to end the war. He stated, "We’d much rather have the war be over to be honest," and expressed hesitation about tapping into U.S. supplies.

Zelensky, while acknowledging the need for a ceasefire and negotiations, did not directly confirm or deny Trump's suggestion that Ukraine should accept current battle lines. He emphasized that Ukraine needs strong security guarantees for an enduring peace and reiterated his readiness to meet Putin, despite Moscow's refusal.

The Ukrainian president had proposed a potential swap: Ukraine would provide the U.S. with thousands of its advanced drones in exchange for Tomahawk missiles. However, the U.S. remains hesitant to approve the missile transfer.

Trump's position appears to have shifted from earlier statements in which he expressed confidence that Ukraine could regain all lost territory, a change attributed to a prior phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and plans for a future meeting with him in Budapest.

This was the third face-to-face meeting between Trump and Zelensky since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025.

Trump’s diplomatic efforts have included a phone call with Putin on Thursday, which he said yielded progress on Moscow’s willingness to negotiate. He also cited a recent Middle East ceasefire as a model for ending the war in Ukraine.

European leaders, including the UK and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, reaffirmed their "unwavering commitment" to Ukraine in a virtual call following the meeting, agreeing to continue discussions on support for a potential ceasefire. The White House described the meeting as "very interesting and cordial," though sources described it as tense and at times "uncomfortable."

Trump Says Maduro Doesn't 'Want To Fuck Around With The US,' As U.S. Military Seizes Smuggling Boat Survivors After Caribbean Drone Strike Off Venezuelan Coast

During the press portion of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump sharply responded to a reporter while discussing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, stating, "He doesn’t want to fuck around with the U.S." This outburst marked a rare public display of frustration and signaled a potential escalation in U.S. military operations against drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea.

The U.S. confirmed deadly strike on a drug-carrying semi-submersible drug submarine, killed two people and left two survivors in U.S. Navy custody.

"We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs," Trump said Friday while hosting the Zelensky at the White House. Secretary of State Rubio said details would be forthcoming.

Thursday’s incident marks the first known case of reported survivors since U.S. forces began their campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug boats.

The U.S. has conducted six strikes on vessels suspected of drug trafficking off Venezuela’s coast, with the latest targeting a submarine reportedly carrying drugs. The Trump administration claims these operations have killed at least 27 people, though survivors have been reported.

The Trump administration has declared an "armed conflict" with Venezuelan drug cartels, invoking wartime powers to justify lethal operations. On Friday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force within U.S. Southern Command.

The task force aims to "crush the cartels, stop the poison and keep America safe," Hegseth wrote last week on X, formerly Twitter. "The message is clear: If you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold."

On Tuesday, Trump highlighted a separate strike that killed six suspected smugglers aboard a vessel off the coast of Venezuela.

"Venezuela is a big purveyor of drugs," Trump told reporters later that day in the Oval Office, accusing the country of sending its "criminals" into the United States.

The U.S. has deployed a significant military presence to the region, including eight warships, a nuclear-powered submarine, fighter jets, and approximately 10,000 personnel in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.

Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky successfully completed Roscosmos Spacewalk 64 (or VKD-64), the first extravehicular activity (EVA) of the year and the 276th spacewalk in ISS history outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, Oct. 16, from 1710 UTC to 2319 UTC. They installed the Ekran-M semiconductor experiment on the Nauka module and jettisoned an outdated high-definition camera from the Zvezda module.

The spacewalk focused on scientific and maintenance work on the Russian segment of the ISS, particularly the recently integrated Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module and the Zvezda Service Module.

The spacewalk was conducted from the Russian segment of the ISS, with Expedition 73's Ryzhikov serving as commander and Zubritsky as flight engineer, both from Roscosmos. From inside the station, fellow cosmonaut Oleg Platonov operated the European Robotic Arm on the Russian segment to support the operations.

After configuring their tools, the two crewmates made their way to their first worksite, outside of the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Ryzhikov held onto the Ekran-M, or Molecular Beam Epitaxy experiment, while riding at the end of the European Robotic Arm (ERA), which was driven by cosmonaut Oleg Platonov from a workstation inside the space station.

The primary objective was the installation of the Ekran-M experiment, a drum-shaped molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) unit designed to grow ultra-thin semiconductor materials in microgravity, a process that can produce materials far thinner than those made on Earth.

Ryzhikov and Zubritsky installed the drum-shaped unit, ran power cables and mounted a swappable cassette. The experiment is intended to demonstrate the ability to produce such thin materials that can go from the microgravity environment of outer space to being used in semiconductors.

The experiment, which will use a changeable sample cassette, aims to advance future electronics, optics, and sensor technologies by leveraging the unique conditions of space.

After completing their primary task, the cosmonauts made their way to the Zvezda service module to remove and dispose of a high-definition television system that was originally a part of a Canadian commercial payload. Zubritsky then stood a the end of the European Robotic Arm and tossed the camera overboard, toward the rear of the space station, ensuring it would not come back in contact with the outpost.

"It is going so well," radioed Zubritsky as the camera disappeared into the shadow of Earth. "Jettison is complete."

Given its relatively small mass, (82 kilograms) and volume ( 0.6 by 1.4 by 0.7 meters), the jettisoned equipment will fall back to Earth and be destroyed during its reentry into the atmosphere.

The cosmonauts also retrieved an exposed materials sample from the Poisk module and cleaned a window on the service module to support ongoing research and station maintenance.

Roscosmos Spacewalk 64 began slightly later than anticipated, with the Poisk module hatch opening at 1710 UTC, about 20 minutes after the scheduled 1650 UTC start. Ryzhikov, serving as commander of Expedition 73 and wearing the Orlan spacesuit with red stripes for his second career spacewalk, led the effort. Zubritskiy, in the blue-striped suit for his first EVA, assisted throughout.

This spacewalk marked the second for Expedition 73 and the 276th in support of the ISS since 1998; it was Zubritsky's first EVA and Ryzhikov's second, bringing his total EVA time to 12 hours and 57 minutes.

Thursday's activities are part of broader efforts to enhance the functionality of Russia's contributions to the ISS, which has hosted continuous human presence since November 2000.

Former U.S. National Security Advisor and notoriously unrepentant war hawk John Bolton was indicted on Thursday, by a federal grand jury in Maryland on 18 counts related to the mishandling of classified information, including eight counts of transmitting national defense information and ten counts of retaining such information, all under the Espionage Act.

The charges stem from his alleged use of personal email accounts and a messaging app to send over a thousand pages of diary-like notes detailing his day-to-day activities as national security adviser to President Donald Trump between 2018 and 2019, many of which contained information classified as top secret or sensitive compartmented information.

Bolton, is accused of sharing this material with two family members who lacked security clearances, and of retaining classified documents at his home in Montgomery County, Maryland, which were seized during an FBI raid in August 2025.

The indictment alleges that Bolton used personal accounts, including AOL and Google email, to transmit classified information, such as intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and covert actions, to individuals without authorization.

The investigation, initially dropped by the Biden administration in 2021, was reopened after the CIA and FBI learned of potential foreign espionage involving Bolton’s emails, with Iran suspected as the source of a hack on his AOL account.

FBI agents searched Bolton’s home and office in August 2025, seizing multiple devices, printed documents, and a white binder labeled "Statements and Reflections to Allied Strikes..." along with four boxes of printed daily activities.

Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, stated that the materials in question were unclassified personal diaries shared only with family and that the FBI had been aware of them since 2021, denying any wrongdoing.

Bolton’s 2020 memoir, 'The Room Where It Happened,' which detailed his time in the Trump administration, is believed to have been based on these notes and alarmed national security officials, leading to a prior lawsuit to delay its release.

The case is assigned to Judge Theodore D. Chuang, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, and Bolton is expected to surrender to authorities soon. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted.

President Trump responded to the indictment by calling Bolton a “bad guy,” while Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that no one is above the law and that anyone jeopardizing national security will be held accountable.

As Trump answered questions on prescription drugs in the Oval Office on Thursday, a reporter informed him that Bolton, had just been indicted by a grand jury. “John Bolton was just indicted by a grand jury in Maryland. Do you have a reaction to that?” the reporter asked.

“I did not know that, you are telling me for the first time, but I think — he’s a bad person. I think he’s a bad guy, yeah. He’s a bad guy. Too bad. But that’s the way it goes. That’s the way it goes, right? That’s the way it goes,” Trump said.

The reporter then asked, “Have you reviewed the case against him?”

“No I haven’t, I haven’t,” the president answered. “But I just think he’s a bad person.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement, “The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law.”

Bolton is the third corrupt Democrat official to be indicted. Those indicted so far are former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Discredited left-wing Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and special prosecutor Jack Smith were also among Democrat officials who led an aggressive political and legal witch hunt against Trump.