Sunday, September 6th

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin for more than three hours Saturday in a Trump administration push to end the war in Ukraine. Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in Russian strikes on Kyiv starting at midnight Sept. 6, while Ukraine said it would halt strikes on Moscow during the envoys’ visits. The closed-door talks ended without an announced breakthrough, though the parties discussed a U.S. peace proposal. Witkoff and Kushner were expected to travel next to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces struck three Iranian crude oil carriers on Sept. 5: the M/T Downy off Kharg Island, the M/T Stark 1 near Jask and the M/T Kylo, also known as the Noxen, in the Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer; no American personnel were injured. CENTCOM said two tankers were permanently disabled and a third destroyed, while Iran warned it could strike U.S. naval vessels “more severely than before.”

MAGA Inc., President Donald Trump’s super PAC, disclosed a $10 million television and digital advertising buy in the Texas Senate race to boost Republican Ken Paxton. The expenditure is split between $5 million supporting Paxton and $5 million opposing Democrat James Talarico, who is running for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. John Cornyn. It is the group’s first major spending in a competitive 2026 general election contest and follows Republican concerns that Paxton needed outside help in a closely polling race.