The question of whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to commit to Trump-brokered territorial agreements in Ukraine will be at the center of major three-way talks among Russian, U.S. and Ukrainian officials being held in the United Arab Emirates on Friday. The talks represent the first time officials from the three nations have come together for direct, in-person negotiations since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Kremlin official Yuri Ushakov told reporters Friday that Russian Adm. Igor Kostyukov would lead Russia’s negotiating team during the talks in Abu Dhabi. Russian Investment Envoy Kirill Dmitriev is meeting separately with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is sending top adviser Rustem Umerov and new Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov.

Russia has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine surrender all of the territory currently occupied by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and give up the last 20% of territory it controls in the Donetsk region. Moscow also has rejected proposals that would allow foreign troops to enter Ukraine or those that would allow Ukraine to join NATO. Ukraine has refused to give up large swaths of territory, arguing that its troops have fought and died to keep the land for years.

The head of the U.S. Space Force says his job is to “think about worst-case scenarios” when it comes to potential threats in space, whether they are Russian “nesting doll” satellites or Chinese “grappling arm” tactics that could suddenly become weaponized.

“We used to say there are emerging threats. I don’t say that anymore. There are threats in orbit,” Gen. Saltzman, chief of Space Force Operations, said in an exclusive video interview with Threat Status inside the Pentagon.

Although space has been important to the U.S. military for many decades, Gen. Saltzman said, the more pressing issue today is how vital it has become to the American way of life. “That might be the thing that’s changed the most in at least the last 10 or 15 years,” he said. “Americans’ daily lives are affected by space capabilities in ways they don’t see — in ways they don’t even really recognize.”

Syrian government forces took control Friday of a prison housing members of the Islamic State group in the country’s north, after hundreds of U.S.-aligned Kurdish fighters evacuated from the area as part of a delicate deal to hand it over to the Syrian military, which has grown in numbers and strength under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The situation is being monitored closely by the roughly 1,000 American troops in Syria. U.S. military officials said this week they had transferred about 150 Islamic State detainees from the area to neighboring Iraq for prosecution. The collapse of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria had sparked concerns that prisons in the area would not be secure. 

As one of Washington’s key partners during the nearly 15-year Syrian civil war, the SDF provided stability to the northeastern region of Syria and committed resources to fighting ISIS with the help of U.S. weapons and intelligence. But that relationship has changed dramatically since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government in December 2024 and the rise of Mr. al-Sharaa. U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said this week that the SDF’s role in fighting ISIS had “largely expired” and that the U.S. will not support an independent SDF inside Syria.

The U.S. Army showed off an updated M1E3 Abrams battle tank at the Detroit Auto Show this week, turning heads with a sleek new prototype that combines Motor City muscle and Formula 1 performance. Defense and National Security Correspondent John T. Seward reported from the floor of the show.

The slimmed-down 60-ton tank — previous versions topped 73 tons — includes a cockpit that a Formula 1 team helped design and a gaming-inspired controller that can be exchanged for different styles of driving.

The roughly $75 million operational prototype on display was assembled by Roush, the Detroit-based, high-performance auto modifications company and racing manufacturer. The Army expects a full platoon of four tanks to conduct experimental field operations this summer, starting with initial safety and gun testing.

President Trump “attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities as Iran was about to develop its first nuclear weapon,” writes Donald Kirk, a longtime journalist and expert on East Asian security affairs who notes that “North Korea is thought to have fabricated at least 100 nuclear warheads.

“Rather than plead to see [North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un] for another summit, Mr. Trump should consider wiping out the North’s nuclear complex north of Pyongyang, plus its test sites,” Mr. Kirk writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times. “Just as Iran has long threatened Israel, arming and advising Hamas and Hezbollah, among others, so North Korea threatens South Korea, Japan and the U.S. with long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“It takes more than diplomatic overtures and sanctions to eliminate the threat from either end of the ‘axis of evil,’” Mr. Kirk writes. “If Mr. Trump is willing to order a strike against Iran, then he should consider no less for North Korea.”

• Jan. 23 — The Future of U.S. Strategic Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, Atlantic Council

• Jan. 27 — The Future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act: Building American Prosperity Through African Partnership, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Jan. 27 — Apex Defense Conference 2026, Hudson Institute 

• Jan. 27-28 — Qubits26: Quantum Realized, D-Wave

• Jan. 29 — The World, Rewired – A Geopolitical Outlook for 2026 and Beyond, Stimson Center

• Jan. 29 — Evaluating Progress After Historic Investments in the U.S. Coast Guard, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

• Jan. 29 — Pax Silica: Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg on the Artificial Intelligence Race and Economic Security, Hudson Institute