Vice President JD Vance put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on notice, rattled the confidence of century-old allies in Western Europe during his first foreign trip, decamped to Capitol Hill to help in delicate budget talks and delivered a spirited defense of the Trump administration’s first month to a gathering of conservatives outside the nation’s capital.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky angered Donald Trump so much during the peace talks with Russia that Trump was on the verge of withdrawing American military support from Ukraine, three U.S. officials familiar with the discussions tell Axios.

The sackings have little to do with kindling the “warrior ethos”, which the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, vows to do. General Brown has clocked more than 3,000 flight hours, including 130 in combat. Admiral Franchetti had commanded not one but two aircraft-carrier strike groups.

President Donald Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown, breaking with decades of precedent as part of a broader purge of senior military leaders chosen by his predecessor,