These days, there is a lot of news. It can be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider this from NPR is a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider

this podcast from NPR. You're listening to the 1A podcast. I'm Jen White, and this is in case you missed it,

where we bring you some of the week's most

important conversations you might have missed. The White House has issued an ultimatum on the war in Ukraine.

Vice President J.D. Vance said Wednesday that the U.S. would walk away from the peace process

unless Ukraine and Russia accepted the U.S.'s terms, terms which heavily favor Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky is rejected the deal, which calls for Ukraine

to cede its territory currently occupied by Russia.

Ukraine doesn't legally recognize the occupation of Crimea.

There's nothing to talk about.

It's outside of our constitution.

This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine.

Thursday morning, Russia launched its deadliest attacks on Kiev in months. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week announced an overhaul of the U.S. State Department,

announcing it will lose 15% of its personnel, amounting to 700 positions,

and the closure of 132 offices. What will that mean for U.S. national security? After the break,

Robbie Grammer joins us to help make sense of it all. He's a national security reporter at Politico

and the lead author of the political newsletter, NatSec Daily.

A reminder that the story is developing, so stay up to date with all the latest.

Tune in to your local NPR member station or visit NPR.org.

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