THE KING’S GAMBIT: America’s allies know there is no better way to stay on President Donald Trump’s good side than to slather him with flattery, and in his private meeting and two public appearances with Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer piled it on thick.
“You’ve created a moment of tremendous opportunity to reach a historic peace deal, a deal that I think would be celebrated in Ukraine and around the world,” said Starmer, who came armed with a secret weapon, a letter signed by King Charles, inviting Trump for an unprecedented second state visit to the U.K. “This is really special. This has never happened before,” Starmer gushed.
Trump also praised Starmer as a “very, very special person” and rhapsodized about the historic close ties between the two countries. “The U.S. and U.K. have a special relationship, very special, really like no other,” he said.
After setting an almost festive tone, Starmer and Trump got down to the business, discussing how Trump’s hopes for a negotiated ceasefire and eventual peace plan might play out. “It can’t be peace that rewards the aggressor, or that gives encouragement to regimes like Iran,” Starner said. “History must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader.”
For his part, Trump seemed ready to drop his exaggerated claims for repayment of the money gifted to Ukraine by the Biden administration, as well as his harsh criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator,” so long as the Ukrainian president signs the framework of a mineral rights agreement that would tie the two countries together economically. “I think it’s going to be great for Ukraine,” Trump said, suggesting the presence of American mining companies would, in effect, serve as the “backstop” Starmer was seeking for European peacekeepers. “We’re going to be at the site, and we’ll be digging. We’ll be dig, dig, digging.”
“The U.K. is ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air to support a deal,” Starmer said. “We want to work with you to make sure that peace deal is enduring, that it lasts, that it’s a deal that goes down as a historic deal that nobody breaches,” he told Trump.
“I think we’re going to have a very successful peace, and I think it’s going to be a long-lasting peace. And I think it’s going to happen, hopefully, quickly,” Trump said. “If it doesn’t happen quickly, it may not happen at all.”
TRUMP UNDERMINES UKRAINE DEAL BY EQUIVOCATING ON BRITISH BACKSTOP
PUTIN’S FEELING COCKY: The signals out of Moscow indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes he’s in the driver’s seat and doesn’t believe he will have to make any concessions. In an address to a meeting of top security officials, Putin suggested the West has seen the error of its ways. “The first contacts with the new U.S. administration inspire certain hopes.”
“We all see how rapidly the world and the international situation are changing,” he said, according to the official Kremlin transcript. “Our partners demonstrate pragmatism and a realistic vision of things and have abandoned numerous stereotypes.”
“Putin and senior Russian officials continue to reject U.S. negotiating terms and demand that Ukraine surrender territory that Russia does not occupy,” said the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War in its latest assessment of the conflict. “ISW continues to assess that Putin remains uninterested in good faith negotiations that require compromises and thinks that he can achieve his war objectives militarily in the medium to long term.”
Trump said yesterday he would seek a deal that would return some Russian-occupied territory to Ukraine. “They’ve fought long and hard on the land … and we’re going to certainly try and get as much as we can back.”
“There are a lot of areas that were taken,” Trump said. “A lot of the sea [coast] line has been taken, and we’ll be talking about that, and we’re going to see if we can get it back, or get a lot of it back for Ukraine, if that’s possible.”
But speaking to reporters in Istanbul yesterday, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, flatly ruled out giving up Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed. “The territories which have become subjects of the Russian Federation, which are inscribed in our country’s constitution, are an inseparable part of our country,” Peskov said, according to Agence France Presse. “This is undeniable and non-negotiable.”
NORTH KOREA PROVIDING MORE TROOPS TO RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA ALLEGES
ZELENSKY’S IN A PICKLE: Zelensky arrives in Washington with the fate of his nation in the balance. He can’t afford to be on bad terms with Trump, because without U.S. backing it’s unclear any peace agreement will be enforceable.
Trump extended an olive branch of sorts by jokingly brushing off his “dictator without elections” jab at Zelensky. “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question?” However, Zelensky remains wary of any deal with Putin, who has broken every treaty Russia has made since he took power.
“When you’re dealing with somebody like Vladimir Putin, who is as cold-blooded as they come, he knows what he wants, and he’s going to try and manipulate Trump to get it,” John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser said on CNN, where he is a paid contributor. “Trump thinks they’re friends. Putin thinks he’s an easy mark.”
“In Trump’s mind, and the way Trump looks at the world, Putin is way ahead,” Bolton said. “I think there’s a lot of loose talk in Europe, particularly about how this is going to play out. First thing we’re going to have is a ceasefire. I think that’s disadvantageous to Ukraine.”
“Then the insertion of a peacekeeping force. I think those two together lead almost inevitably to partition. If you have a ceasefire and then deploy a peacekeeping force and then start negotiating in Geneva or someplace, the negotiations could go on and on and on,” Bolton said. “And the longer they go on, the more that ceasefire line becomes a de facto border.”
“And even the talk of peacekeepers itself is flawed. Are they peacekeepers who will fight to enforce the ceasefire, or are they going to be like U.N. observers who watch as people violate the ceasefire and just report back to headquarters?” Bolton argues. “Let’s be clear, Putin has a strategy … a ceasefire might be advantageous to him to resupply, restock, reequip, retrain his army, but that simply means that the war — the third invasion, could take place in five or six years.”
IN EXCHANGE FOR PEACE, TRUMP AND PUTIN DEMAND A PIECE OF UKRAINE
Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie (@chriswtremo). Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre
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HAPPENING TODAY: TRANS BAN BEGINS: Transgender troops in the U.S. have 30 days from today to voluntarily leave the military or face discharge for failure to conform to President Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order, which defines gender dysphoria as “expressing a false gender identity” and as incompatible with “rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
The Pentagon estimates there are some 4,240 openly transgender troops currently in the armed forces, who will be eligible for double separation pay and an honorable discharge, if they step forward and agree to step aside.
A senior defense official told reporters yesterday that the cost of treatment for gender dysphoria for active-duty troops as well as the National Guard and Reserves, which includes psychotherapy, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgery, totaled approximately $52 million from 2015 to 2024.
DOD INTENDS TO DISCHARGE TRANSGENDER SERVICE MEMBERS
REED: TRANS PURGE IS ‘BETRAYAL OF PATRIOTIC INDIVIDUALS’: In reaction to the Pentagon directive, which amounts to a complete ban on transgender military service, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee blasted the purge of transgender troops as “divisive, discriminatory move that does nothing to keep the American people safe.”
“Removing qualified transgender service members means getting rid of highly-trained, experienced personnel who aren’t easily replaced,” Reed said. “It’s a betrayal of these patriotic individuals and undermines the notion of merit-based military standards. We need high-caliber people who will serve and defend the Constitution.”
The Pentagon directive does allow for a waiver in extraordinary circumstances in which a particular skill or ability is needed for national security.
GAO: NAVY CAN’T GET ITS SHIPS TOGETHER: A Government Accountability Office report released yesterday says despite billions invested in shipbuilding, America’s industrial base “has not met the Navy’s goals in recent history.”
“Problems in Navy shipbuilding and repair have remained relatively unchanged over the past decades. Programs are not achieving cost and schedule goals, and as a result, the battle force is not sufficiently modernized and ready to meet national security needs. These problems are in part because the ship industrial base faces workforce and infrastructure challenges that put the Navy’s goals out of reach,” the report says. “Yet the Navy continues to expect different performance outcomes in the coming years than it has achieved in the past. There is no basis for expecting industrial base outcomes to improve without changes from the Navy that would motivate a different level of private industry investment and performance.”
“The findings bolster sharp criticism of Navy shipbuilding by the Trump administration,” writes Bloomberg’s Tony Capaccio, who notes, “According to the GAO, the Navy planned to take delivery between 2019 and 2023 of 11 Virginia-class submarines built by General Dynamics Corp. and HII, but only four arrived. Similarly, the Navy planned to receive 15 General Dynamics DDG-51 destroyers over those years but only seven arrived.”
“I think what is missing from what I can see is the sense of urgency,” John Phelan, Trump’s nominee for Navy secretary, said at his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. “It’s almost as if you’re waiting for a crisis to happen to ignite things. And I think in the business of warfare, that’s a dangerous place to be.”
“I think why the president selected me is I will bring a sense of urgency to this,” Phelan pledged. “I will bring a sense of accountability to this.’
TRUMP’S PICK TO LEAD NAVY STRESSES ‘URGENCY’ IN FIXING SHIPBUILDING PROBLEMS
FORMER SECRETARIES DECRY BROWN SACKING: In an extraordinary public appeal, five former defense secretaries — three Democrats, one Republican, and one Independent — have released a letter calling for a congressional inquiry into the firing of Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. and other senior leaders including the chief of naval operations and top military lawyers by President Donald Trump, which they said was clearly not about warfighting.
The President offered no justification for his actions, even though he had nominated these officers for previous positions and the Senate had approved them, said the letter signed by William Perry, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Jim Mattis and Lloyd Austin. “Trump’s dismissals raise troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military and to remove legal constraints on the President’s power. We, like many Americans — including many troops — are therefore left to conclude that these leaders are being fired for purely partisan reasons.”
“The House and Senate should demand that the administration justify each firing and fully explain why it violated Congress’ legislative intent that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff complete a four-year term in office,” they wrote. “In the meantime, senators should refuse to confirm any new Defense Department nominations, including that of retired Lt. General Dan Caine as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
“We’re not asking members of Congress to do us a favor; we’re asking them to do their jobs.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Trump undermines Ukraine deal by equivocating on British backstop
Washington Examiner: Seven takeaways from Trump’s White House talks with British PM Keir Starmer
Washington Examiner: ‘Did I say that?’: Trump questions whether he called Zelensky a ‘dictator’
Washington Examiner: North Korea providing more troops to Russia, South Korea alleges
Washington Examiner: Meloni and Macron butt heads on European troops in Ukraine
Washington Examiner: Trump signals support for UK plan to give up Chagos Islands despite GOP opposition
Washington Examiner: Germany’s outsiders: Understanding the right-wing party roiling Berlin
Washington Examiner: DOD intends to discharge transgender service members
Washington Examiner: DOGE charges full steam ahead with more cuts despite some concerns on speed
Washington Examiner: Rich McCormick condemns ‘celebrating’ layoffs of federal workers
Washington Examiner: VA pauses contract cuts as department funding and staff get slashed
Washington Examiner: Trump’s pick to lead Navy stresses ‘urgency’ in fixing shipbuilding problems
Washington Examiner: Florida becomes first state to require police to carry out some ICE duties
Washington Examiner: Trump clarifies tariffs against Mexico and Canada will start March 4
Washington Examiner: Does Trump even need a Joint Chiefs chairman?
Washington Examiner: Editorial: To get peace, Trump must view Putin’s war for what it is
USA Today: Judge Blocks Trump Administration from Firing Probationary Employees
Defense One: Trump Administration Asks Agencies to Cull Consultants
Bloomberg: Navy Keeps Botching Shipbuilding and Modernization, Audit Warns
SpaceNews: Space Development Agency Pushes Back on GAO’s Criticism
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Names OA-1K Skyraider II as New Aircraft Prepares to Come Online
The War Zone: F-15 Nose-Mounted Infrared Sensor Hinted at in New Boeing Photo
The War Zone: Ukraine’s Black MiG-29 ‘Ghost’ Fulcrum Showcased in New Video
Defense Scoop: Trump’s Navy Secretary Nominee Endorses Joint Collaboration with Air Force on Drone Enablers
Air & Space Forces Magazine: F-16s, KC-135s Brave Greenland Chill for NORAD Exercise
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Most Troops with Families to Serve 3-Year Tours in South Korea
Breaking Defense: Pentagon Needs Further Industry Collaboration on O-RAN Development for 5G Interoperability
THE CALENDAR:
FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 28
8:30 a.m. 351 Fairfax Dr., Arlington, Virginia — National Defense Industrial Association and George Mason University Center for Government Contracting “Power of Prototyping Symposium,” with Ellen Lord, former undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, delivers remarks https://www.ndia.org/events/2025/2/28/power-of-prototyping
10 a.m. — National Institute for Deterrence Studies virtual seminar: “Assessment and Update of the Posture Commission,” with Madelyn Creedon, former assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, president of Green Marble Group LLC; and Franklin Miller, principal at the Scowcroft Group https://thinkdeterrence.com/events/
10 a.m. 1400 L St. NW — Atlantic Council book discussion: No Country for Love, focusing on Ukraine’s historical struggle against authoritarianism amid Russia’s continued aggression, with author Yaroslav Trofimov, Wall Street Journal chief foreign affairs correspondent https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/book-launch-no-country-for-love
TUESDAY | MARCH 4
9 a.m. 2401 M St., NW — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group coffee discussion: “An Exclusive, Advance Preview of the Reagan Institute’s National Security Innovation Base Report Card for 2025,” with Roger Zakheim, director, Ronald Reagan Institute; and Rachel Hoff, policy director, Ronald Reagan Institute RSVP: [email protected].
9:15 a.m. 390 Cannon — House (Select) Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party Committee hearing: “End the Typhoons: How to Deter Beijing’s Cyber Actions and Enhance America’s Lackluster Cyber Defenses.” https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov
9:30 a.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nomination of Elbridge Colby to be undersecretary of defense for policy. http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. 419 Dirksen — Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the nominations of Matthew Whitaker to be U.S. permanent representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization http://foreign.senate.gov
2 p.m. 310 Cannon — House Homeland Security Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee hearing: “The Digital Battlefield: How Terrorists Use the Internet and Online Networks for Recruitment and Radicalization.” http://homeland.house.gov
WEDNESDAY | MARCH 5
9:15 a.m. 390 Cannon — House (Select) Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party Committee hearing: “End the Typhoons: How to Deter Beijing’s Cyber Actions and Enhance America’s Lackluster Cyber Defenses.” https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov
10 a.m. 2154 Rayburn — House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing: “Sanctuary cities policies,” with testimony from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D); Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D); Denver Mayor Michael Johnston (D); and New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) http://oversight.house.gov
10 a.m. 419 Dirksen — Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing: “Advancing American Interests in the Western Hemisphere,” with testimony from Joseph Ledford, fellow and assistant director of the Stanford University Hoover Institution’s Hoover History Lab, Stanford, Calif. http://foreign.senate.gov
10 a.m. 2167 Rayburn — House Transportation and Infrastructure Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee hearing: “America Builds: Coast Guard Acquisitions and Infrastructure.” http://transportation.house.gov
10 a.m. 310 Cannon — House Homeland Security Committee hearing: “Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Security.” http://homeland.house.gov
2:30 p.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee hearing: “The Posture of the U.S. Transportation Command in Review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2026 and the Future Years Defense Program,” with testimony from Air Force Gen. Randall Reed, commander, U.S. Transportation Command http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
THURSDAY | MARCH 6
6:30 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, Virginia — Association of the U.S. Army “Coffee Series” discussion with Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimerhttps://www.ausa.org/events/coffee-series/sma-weimer