Exclusive: US envoy Steve Witkoff, fresh from the triumph of the Gaza peace deal, held a phone call last month with a senior Kremlin official to suggest they work together on a similar plan for Ukraine — and that Putin should raise it with Trump. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Belarus’s leader released additional political prisoners and said he’ll seek a fresh round of talks with US officials in the latest signal that his Russian-aligned regime is making overtures to the West www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Zelenskiy implored EU allies to overcome their divisions on using frozen Russian assets, saying fresh funding is critical for Ukraine’s war-battered economy. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Live from Prague: Billionaire Andrej Babis set about forging a new Czech government hours after scoring his best-ever election victory, with his return to power poised to bolster the ascendant ranks of populist leaders in the EU www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Czechs going to vote: Andrej Babis heads into this weekend’s election with promises to grow the economy more quickly and reverse some austerity. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Excellent read: Latvia's border with Russia is becoming increasingly militarized and feels dangerously close to being on a war footing www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: “Russia is testing the EU and NATO” Vladimir Putin is broadening his effort to destabilize the West, forcing European leaders to reassess the scale of the threat and rush in new defenses www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: European diplomats warned the Kremlin this week that NATO is ready to respond to further violations of its airspace with full force, including by shooting down Russian planes www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Russian forces struggling to gain ground in Ukraine are sending troops and supplies through idle gas pipelines in order to evade deadly drone strikes www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Russian military drills are compounding anxiety among NATO members after attack drones breached Polish territory this week www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Slovenia’s top diplomat warned the EU risked projecting a double standard if it failed to take Israel to task for the bloodshed in Gaza even as it moves ahead with additional sanctions against Russia. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A good read: Taps running dry and water rationing are part of life in Bulgaria — and a cautionary tale for the rest of Europe... www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Exclusive: the Czech Republic must drop its penchant for “fiscal self-flagellation” in favor of investing in economic growth, according to a senior official from an opposition party poised to sweep to victory in October elections www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: US and European officials will begin work immediately on a plan to provide Ukraine with robust security guarantees, sources say www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Washington and Moscow are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russia’s occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, according to people familiar with the matter. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

In Croatia: a surge in the popularity of a far-right singer once banned in some places has seen the revival of Nazi-era slogans and symbols. Rather than condemn it, some senior politicians are embracing it. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Ukraine’s anti-corruption officials fear that pressure will remain from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration even after he backed down over a measure to strip anti-graft agencies of their independence. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Ukraine: Zelenskiy’s abrupt decision to hobble anti-corruption authorities in Kyiv blindsided the country’s allies and may have inflicted lasting damage to its ambition to join the EU www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“Anti-corruption infrastructure has been destroyed”: Ukrainian lawmakers approved legislation that would strip the nation’s anti-graft agencies of their independence and potentially cripple efforts to tackle high-level corruption www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Joseph Stalin's cult of personality was dismantled by Soviet leaders in the 1960s — but thanks to Putin, his reputation is undergoing a dramatic revision www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Ukraine’s new prime minister says she’s likely to seek more financing from the IMF as she sets out to shore up the nation’s fiscal needs with no end in sight to Russia’s war www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Ukraine: Zelenskiy’s cabinet overhaul this week was part of an effort to move into position presidential loyalists who can potentially win favor with Donald Trump. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

EU budget: Donald Trump’s plan to allow the European Union pay for arms supplied to Ukraine is piling pressure on EU officials negotiating how to finance the bloc’s defense-spending ambitions https//www.bloombe...

North Korea is now supplying as much as 40% of Russia’s ammunition for the war in Ukraine as the partnership between Pyongyang and Moscow deepens, according to the head of Ukrainian military intelligence. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Donald Tusk’s premiership is reeling from a presidential election debacle that’s left the Polish leader diminished in the face of a resurgent nationalist opposition. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: NATO is asking European member states to expand ground-based air-defense capabilities fivefold as the alliance races to fill a key gap in response to the threat of Russian aggression, people familiar with the matter said. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Poland swings rightward: A nationalist candidate backed by Donald Trump was on course to win Sunday's presidential election, erasing an earlier edge by the centrist mayor of Warsaw. It's a blow to Donald Tusk's pro-EU government... www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Merz making quite a departure from Scholz policy: Germany agreed to provide Ukraine with €5 billion in military aid as part of chancellor's pledge to help Kyiv build long-range weapons to hit targets on Russian territory. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Romania’s new president: One-time math prodigy Nicusor Dan faces tough budget arithmetic as he seeks to narrow what has become the EU’s widest budget deficit www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Russian forces in Ukraine have made only small territorial gains this year amid steady resistance from Kyiv’s military, undercutting Putin’s assertions that his army has gained the upper hand www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Big election Sunday: Romania’s track record as a reliable supporter of the European project will be put to the test as an ultranationalist Donald Trump disciple contends for the presidency against a one-time math prodigy www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Romanian election looking close: New poll shows ultranationalist George Simion and Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan in a dead heat ahead of Sunday's presidential runoff, with about 48% apiece. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Romania’s election fallout: The world’s longest-serving central bank governor is confronting the country’s biggest market selloff since the global financial crisis after a surge in far-right support in a presidential ballot spurred a government collapse. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Romania’s far-right leader, the resounding first-round winner of the nation’s presidential election, said he found inspiration in Argentina’s president when asked about how he would address the country’s economic woes www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

It's election day in Romania (again): voters will have another go at a presidential ballot on Sunday after the shock victory of a far-right fringe candidate last year prompted accusations of Kremlin interference and cancellation of the vote. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Romania's election: Senior US official warns of outside meddling as Trump administration dispatches high-level monitoring mission to observe contentious vote on Sunday. FEC vice chair: “It’s very clear that there was manipulation through social media platforms..." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Romanian election: this weekend’s presidential vote looks set to expose divisions again, six months after the authorities cancelled the last one www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump’s China tariffs are about to unleash a supply shock on the US economy, with shoppers likely to see empty shelves and higher prices. “We are paralyzed,” said Jay Foreman, CEO of toymaker Basic Fun in Boca Raton, which supplies big retail customers like Amazon. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Trump administration puts pressure on EU to ditch a rulebook that would compel developers of advanced AI to follow stricter standards of transparency, risk-mitigation and copyright rules www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: US will demand that Russia accept Ukraine’s right to have its own army and defense industry as part of a peace deal, sources say www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan is running for president with a TikTok-led campaign to win over Romanian voters www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: EU is preparing a package of potential emergency measures to support parts of its economy that could be hit the hardest by Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Ukraine's top diplomat says officials are pressing ahead with the US toward an "acceptable" economic accord hours after Donald Trump accused Kyiv of trying to renegotiate the deal www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: the US is pushing to control all major future infrastructure and mineral investments in Ukraine, potentially gaining a veto over any role for Kyiv’s other allies www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: France wants the EU to consider deploying its most powerful retaliatory measure against the US for the first time ever if Trump uses tariffs to unfairly force the bloc into policy changes www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Lithuania's president says the Baltic nation is prepared to deploy troops as part of a post-ceasefire mission to Ukraine, says Putin is "imitating" negotiations... www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

It's big: Germany’s move to unlock hundreds of billions of euros in debt-financed defense and infrastructure spending passes its final legislative hurdle www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Live from Brussels: EU leaders tussled over weapons deliveries to Kyiv and who would represent them in US-led diplomacy as the bloc struggled to formulate a strategy on Ukraine www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive: Romania’s prime minister said his government may be hobbled if the presidential candidate jointly backed by the ruling coalition fails to win an election in May, adding to the Black Sea nation’s political turmoil. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Vladimir Putin used his phone call with Donald Trump on Tuesday to say that the US could get played by Russia — literally. Putin was talking about ice hockey, but it was also a reference to Trump’s efforts to get a quick ceasefire in Ukraine… www.bloomberg.com/news/article...