I'm Rachel Martin. Apple Podcasts named my conversation with author Jason Reynolds on Wildcard, one of the top 10 podcast episodes of 2025.

I am a crybaby of all crybabies. It is my favorite thing about myself.

You can watch or listen to that wildcard conversation now on the NPR app or on YouTube at NPR Wildcard.

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

President Trump says his envoy, Steve Whitkoff, will soon head to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has said he is closing in on a negotiated deal to end the war in Ukraine from Moscow.

NPR's Charles Mainz reports.

A senior Kremlin aide confirmed Whitkoff would meet with Putin next week to discuss the latest U.S. efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Whitkoff seeks approval for a draft peace plan that initially offered terms favorable to Moscow,

but has since been fine-tuned with input from Europe and Ukraine.

Senior Russian officials have warned those amendments could make the plan a non-starter.

Whitkoff's trip also comes in the wake of a leaked transcript from a phone call

with a senior Putin aide that appears to show Whitkoff providing counsel on

handling Trump. While the transcript has not been independently verified by NPR, Trump is

already downplaying its contents, telling reporters Whitkoff was engaged in a standard form of

negotiation. Charles Bain's NPR News, Moscow.

Arizona, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly was on Jimmy Kim alive last night as he continues to publicly

rebuke the Pentagon's investigation into him and other congressional Democrats for warning

service members against following unlawful orders.

Every one of us has First Amendment speech rights, and I think the president is infringing on those.

And he is sending a pretty strong message.

You do not want to cross him.

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