Stalled Ukraine diplomacy, Gaza escalation, Venezuela arrests and Sudan appointment

Off Leash update 20 May

UKRAINE AND RUSSIA •Presidents Trump and Putin spoke by phone yesterday, but the two-hour call yielded no tangible progress towards peace. •Afterward, Trump encouraged Putin and Zelensky to negotiate directly, which the NYT called "a functional endorsement of Putin's position." Putin seemed happy, and reiterated his refrain that a ceasefire deal must "remove the root causes of this crisis" - i.e., Ukraine's sovereignty and westward shift. •Meanwhile, the NYT reported that Russia has been reinforcing bases on its tense border with Finland

GAZA •Israel relaxed its monthslong blockade of Gaza to allow several food trucks in. Prime Minister Netanyahu said he decided to send "a basic quantity of food" after pressure from Israel's "closest friends in the world" - specifically, U.S. senators who expressed concern about an imminent "starvation crisis" in Gaza. •Shortly thereafter, Netanyahu announced a significant expansion of ground operations in Gaza, writing on social media: "We are going to take over all the areas of the Strip." •Canada, France, and the UK issued a joint statement criticizing Israel's expanded operations in Gaza and threatening to impose targeted sanctions on Israel over both the Gaza escalation and blockade and the growth of settlements in the West Bank.

VENEZUELA •Venezuela's sanctioned Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, said - without offering any evidence - that authorities arrested 37 alleged mercenaries planning to disrupt this weekend's legislative elections by setting off explosives and collaborating with the opposition - two very different allegations. •Cabello said 21 of those arrested were Venezuelan and 17 were foreigners, but alleged that all of them entered Venezuela from Colombia. That helped justify a decision to suspend flights from Colombia to Venezuela for only a week. Flights will resume after the election.

SUDAN •Sudan's military leader, Abdel Fatah al-Burhan, appointed former UN official Kamil Idris as the junta's prime minister. •This is the first time Sudan has had a prime minister since al-Burhan's 2021 coup. The African Union cheered the news as a step towards a return to civilian government - though with the Rapid Support Forces strafing the junta's interim capital in Port Sudan, the idea of civilian government still seems far off.