CIA Director Ratcliffe to Take Bigger Role in Russia-Ukraine Talks as Trump-Putin Call No Breakthrough

Following a 'frank' Trump-Putin phone call, US officials said CIA Director John Ratcliffe is preparing to take a larger role in shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Kyiv, with the White House considering paring back the involvement of special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have led the talks. Ratcliffe is expected to maintain contact with intelligence officers in both countries while the envoys said they remained optimistic trilateral US-Russia-Ukraine talks (suspended since February) could resume, though people familiar with the discussions said Putin showed little sign of backing down from his existing demands. Overnight, Russia attacked Ukraine with 149 strike drones (Shahed, Gerbera, Parodiya decoys); Ukraine's Air Force said 128 were shot down or suppressed, with hits recorded at 13 locations including a UAV depot in Mykolaiv Oblast and port infrastructure in Chornomorsk and Odesa.