Strikes launched by Israel killed at least 58 Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, according to hospitals via The Associated Press.

The Jewish State resumed attacks across Gaza earlier this week, breaking a ceasefire, which reportedly killed over 400 Palestinians – mostly women and children – on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

Israel’s military indicated that it intercepted a missile fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels early Thursday before it entered Israel’s airspace, The AP reported.

‘Hamas refused offer after offer to release our hostages. In the past two weeks, Israel did not initiate any military action, in the hope that Hamas would change course. Well, that didn’t happen. While Israel accepted the offer of President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Hamas flatly refused to do so,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video shared to X on Tuesday. ‘This is why I authorized yesterday, the renewal of military action against Hamas.’

‘Israel does not target Palestinian civilians. We target Hamas terrorists,’ he declared. ‘And when these terrorists embed themselves in civilian areas, when they use civilians as human shields, they’re the ones who are responsible for all unintended casualties.’

Israel launched its war on Hamas in response to the terrorist group’s heinous attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., a staunch supporter of Israel, continued to express his support while visiting the foreign nation this week.

‘Hamas does not want peace. I unapologetically, 100% stand with Israel, and demand the release of all remaining hostages. Sending this from Israel,’ Fetterman said on X on Tuesday.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said on X on Wednesday, ‘Hamas could end this war right now if it released the hostages held in Gaza. It could’ve done so months ago, but instead it’s brought devastation by prolonging this conflict. America must lead the world in pressuring Hamas to end this war and bring the hostages home.’

A House GOP lawmaker’s town hall devolved into chaos minutes after it began this week, and he’s now responding to hecklers who criticized his concerns about the national debt.

‘We heard from a lot of Nebraskans last night that voiced their concerns about Elon Musk. And I basically said I support [the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE], I support what Elon Musk is doing,’ Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital in an interview on Wednesday.

‘What I asked people to do is think about our debt, not as a red or blue issue, it’s an American issue. It’s going to take all of us to solve it. And what I said last night is we need to balance the budget. I was booed. That is not the right response.’

Flood illustrated his focus on the national debt, which is over $36 trillion, with a massive graphic that hung above him in a Columbus, Nebraska, high school auditorium for most of the town hall. 

But any mention of government spending cuts spurred jeers from the crowd, particularly in the context of Musk’s DOGE efforts.

Multiple people raised specific concerns about medical programs and veterans funding, which Flood said he was in favor of protecting.

‘What I told my constituents last night was, ‘Hey, if you have a concern about a federal agency or a federal program or a specific spending item, communicate that with me,’’ Flood said.

‘I heard a lot last night about the [Department of Veterans Affairs]. We have made a promise to these veterans. … If there’s a hiccup in the system, I’ll do what I’ve always done, and that is I’ll interface with the VA. I’ll advocate on behalf of the veterans and will ensure that they receive the care that they’re entitled to.’

At one point, a woman who said she lost her sister to breast cancer accused Flood of supporting cuts to critical cancer research programs while noting his wife grappled with the disease.

Flood said he supported medical research funding but also supported efforts to find more efficiency in government, again citing the national debt.

He attempted to continue his answer multiple times as people booed, prompting him to incredulously ask, ‘How can you be against a balanced budget?’

Democrat groups had advertised their presence ahead of the packed event. MoveOn promoted a ‘Musk or Us’ protest at the same time and location as Flood’s event. Nebraska Democratic Party staff were also onsite, a top official wrote on X.

Flood said Democratic Party staffers were handing out leaflets to attendees outside the event.

‘I, like every other member of Congress right now, am dealing with a lot from the Democrats. … And last night was an extension of the same at the end of the day,’ he said. ‘I represent them, so I’m happy to visit with them. I’m happy to explain where I am on the issues, but it was obviously fairly coordinated among certain folks last night. Ultimately, we had an exchange of ideas, and that’s what’s important.’

The Nebraska Republican was the lone House GOP lawmaker whose office held a formal town hall this week while Congress is in recess.

House Republican leaders warned their conference to refrain from in-person events as anti-DOGE demonstrations escalate.

But Flood said he would persist and hold his next town hall in Lincoln, Nebraska, in August.

‘We have to explain to the people we represent every single day that $36 trillion national debt is a national security issue. It’s a ticking time bomb. And I think confronting the issue by raising it at a town hall, there’s a lot of value to that,’ Flood said. 

‘I think last night, the best part of it was that I got the chance to explain and connect the dots for people as to why I’m so supportive of some of the spending cuts that we are engaged in right now.’

Following a year of significant setbacks in the Middle East for Iran with its proxy forces flagging in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria, Tehran is leaning on its influence over the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen to carry out its offensive aims. 

According to findings obtained by sources embedded in Tehran who are affiliated with the Iranian resistance group called the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, not only are some of Iran’s most senior military officials in its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) involved in Houthi decision-making, but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has his thumb on the deadly group. 

President Donald Trump’s recent threats against Tehran over its sponsorship of the Houthis are supported in the report, which claims well-placed sources have confirmed that one of the most senior commanders in the IRGC’s Quds Force – the elite branch of the Iranian military – is ‘directly commanding Houthi activities.’

Khamenei, according to the report compiled by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and first obtained by Fox News Digital, personally supervises all Houthi ‘political and military affairs’ that are first approved by his regime.

‘According to reports received from within the IRGC, Khamenei has personally emphasized the importance of Houthi attacks and the necessity of sending weapons and equipment for the Houthis to IRGC commanders and regime officials,’ the report said. 

The weakening of Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ amid the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria has increasingly pushed Tehran to lean on its proxies in Iraq and Yemen.

More than 100 attacks on commercial shipping vessels have been committed by Houthi forces since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, which sparked responses from surrounding terrorist networks, including Hezbollah.

The exchange of missile and drone fire by both the Houthis and U.S. forces escalated this week when the terrorist network threatened to renew strikes on Israeli vessels after Jerusalem cut off humanitarian aid headed for the Gaza Strip this month.

President Trump responded by vowing ‘overwhelming lethal force’ until the Houthi attacks ceased and warned Iran that it would be held ‘fully accountable’ for any attacks.

‘[IRGC Brig. Gen. Abdolreza] Shahlai is in charge of all military, political, and economic matters related to the regime’s intervention in Yemen, including all Houthi operations and attacks,’ the report said, noting his close ties to the former commander of the Quds Force who was killed by then-President Trump’s order in Iraq in 2020, Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani had the blood of hundreds of American soldiers on his hands. 

The report also found that the Iranian Embassy in Yemen is currently under ‘full control’ of the Quds Force.

While it is not necessarily unheard of for intelligence operatives to work out of embassies abroad, the report said it could find no evidence that any personnel from Iran’s Foreign Ministry were in its embassy in Yemen.

The Iranian Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions. 

‘The mullahs’ regime is the root cause of war and instability in the region, sustained through repression at home and the export of terrorism and conflict abroad,’ Ali Safavi, a member of the NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News Digital. ‘The only viable solution to the Iranian crisis is the regime’s overthrow by the Iranian people.’

‘A decisive international policy toward Iran must recognize and support the legitimacy of the Iranian resistance, proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist entity, activate the U.N. Security Council snapback mechanism and endorse the Resistance Units’ fight against the regime,’ he added. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., was gifted a silver-plated beeper during a visit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the lawmaker praised Israel’s covert operation in which it detonated pagers last year worn by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. 

Fetterman repeatedly has voiced support for Israel while breaking with the Democratic Party, which has been critical of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, and has demanded that Hamas return all the hostages the terror group took on Oct. 7, 2023. 

He was visiting Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem this week when he reiterated his support for the Jewish state. 

‘Hamas does not want peace. I unapologetically, 100% stand with Israel, and demand the release of all remaining hostages,’ he wrote Tuesday on X. ‘Sending this from Israel.’

During an exchange of gifts, Fetterman gave Netanyahu a framed news article about an effort to memorialize Netanyahu’s brother, the fallen Israeli soldier Yoni Netanyahu, in Philadelphia, where Netanyahu lived as a teenager, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

The fallen prime minister’s brother is considered a hero in Israel after he was killed in the 1976 Israeli raid in Entebbe, Uganda during the rescue of 102 hostages taken by German and Palestinian terrorists in a plane hijacking.

Netanyahu then reciprocated with his gift.

‘What can I give a man who has everything? How about giving him a beeper?’ Netanyahu said. ‘This is a silver-plated beeper. The real beeper is, like, one-tenth the weight. It’s nothing, but it changes history.’

The beeper references Israel’s September 2024 operation in which it detonated pagers used by members of Hezbollah in Lebanon, killings dozens of people. 

‘When that story broke, I was like, ‘Oh, I love it, I love it.’ And now, it’s like, thank you for this,’ Fetterman responded. 

The operation came before Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, and weeks ahead of an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. That conflict ended in a ceasefire in late November.

In February, Netanyahu also gifted a gold-plated pager to President Donald Trump. 

A federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration on Wednesday, after a government-funded nonprofit organization filed a lawsuit protecting itself from ‘ongoing destruction’ from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) filed a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Tuesday, claiming that DOGE had committed ‘literal trespass and takeover by force…of the Institute’s headquarters building on Constitution Avenue.’

The organization also accused the anti-waste initiative of ‘ongoing destruction of the Institute’s physical and electronic property.’

‘Defendants have been and are at this minute engaged in conduct that will cause the Institute irreparable harm that will prevent the Institute from performing any of its lawful functions and is likely to utterly destroy it,’ the lawsuit stated.

In a decision on Wednesday, Judge Beryl Howell motioned to deny the USIP’s request for a TRO.

‘I think there is confusion in the complaint that make me uncomfortable,’ Howell said.

‘I would say I am very offended by how DOGE has operated in the Institute in treating American citizens…. but that concern about how this has gone down is not one that can sway me in the consideration of factors for TRO, which is emergency relief, which is exceptional,’ she continued.

Howell, who was appointed as a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2024, also said she was ‘particularly concerned about plaintiffs’ likelihood of success.’

‘Two of the most important tests, likely to succeed on the merits and likely to suffer irreparable harm, are just a stretch here,’ Howell added. 

USIP, an independent institution funded by Congress, was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration. Its goal is to ‘[protect] U.S. interests by helping to prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals abroad,’ according to its website.

‘Our work helps keep America safe, reducing the risk that the United States will be drawn into costly foreign wars that drive terrorism, criminal gangs and migration,’ the agency’s website reads. ‘We help make America stronger by projecting U.S. influence and bolstering partner countries in regions destabilized by China and other U.S. adversaries.’

USIP had infamously not complied with President Donald Trump’s February executive order to pull back the ‘scope of federal bureaucracy,’ refusing to reduce its size to the statutory minimum listed in the order.

As such, the Trump administration fired 11 of its 14 board members last week, leaving only Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin.

Howell’s decision came shortly after the White House told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration had gutted USIP of ‘rogue bureaucrats.’ 

‘Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a Tuesday statement. ‘The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.’

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

The judicial branch has been behaving ‘erroneously,’ according to White House press secretary, after several judges have blocked various executive orders from President Donald Trump.

‘I would like to point out that the judges in this country are acting erroneously,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Wednesday news briefing. ‘We have judges who are acting as partisan activists from the bench.’

On Saturday, Judge James Boasberg with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order halting the Trump administration from deporting migrants allegedly part of the Tren de Aragua gang under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The law permits deportation of natives and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing.

However, flights carrying the migrants continued to El Salvador, and Leavitt said Sunday the order had ‘no lawful basis’ since Boasberg issued it after the flights departed from U.S. airspace.

Meanwhile, Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment in a social media post Tuesday, prompting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare statement condemning Trump’s remarks. 

Specifically, Roberts said that ‘it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision’ for more than two centuries. 

In response, Leavitt said Wednesday that the Supreme Court needs to ‘reign in’ judges who are behaving as ‘partisan activists’ and are ‘undermining’ the judicial branch, while also asserting that Trump does respect Robert. 

Efforts to oust Boasberg also have been launched in Congress. For example, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, unveiled an impeachment resolution against Boasberg Tuesday, claiming that Boasberg was ‘guilty of high crimes’ in a post on social media. 

‘It’s incredibly apparent that there is a concerted effort by the far left to judge shop, to pick judges who are clearly acting as partisan activists from the bench in an attempt to derail this president’s agenda,’ Leavitt said. ‘We will not allow that to happen.’ 

Leavitt said that while flights to deport illegal immigrants to El Salvador are currently not scheduled, the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign will continue as litigation continues on this case. 

‘We don’t have any flights planned specifically, but we will continue with the mass deportations,’ Leavitt said. ‘And I would just like to point out that the judge in this case is essentially trying to say that the President doesn’t have the executive authority to deport foreign terrorists…That is an egregious abuse of the bench.’ 

Boasberg has requested the Trump administration provide more details regarding the timing of the flights departing U.S. soil, when they left U.S. airspace, when they landed in El Salvador, among other things. The Trump administration has until Thursday to respond. 

Trump has signed more than 90 executive orders since returning to the White House in January, spurring more than 125 lawsuits against his administration. Additionally, the odds of impeaching a judge are slim, as it would require 67 senators to vote for a conviction. Currently, Republicans only have a majority of 53 lawmakers in the upper chamber. 

Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview Tuesday that he has never defied a court order — and wouldn’t — but that the judicial system is full of ‘crooked’ judges. 

‘No, you can’t do that,’ Trump said about defying court orders. ‘However, we have bad judges. We have very bad judges. These are judges that shouldn’t be allowed. I think at a certain point, you have to look at what do you do when you have a rogue judge.’

Other recent legal losses for the Trump administration include Judge Ana Reyes blocking Trump’s executive order to bar transgender individuals from serving in the military.

Reyes wrote in her 79-page opinion released Tuesday that the ban ‘is soaked in animus.’ The injunction takes effect on Friday, providing a window for the Trump administration to appeal the order. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

The Trump administration gutted the Institute of Peace of ‘rogue bureaucrats’ who held a tense standoff with a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team Monday that required police intervention, according to the White House. 

‘Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital Tuesday. ‘The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.’

The Institute of Peace is an independent, national institution funded by Congress that was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration to promote peace and diplomacy on the international stage. 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February regarding reducing the ‘scope of federal bureaucracy,’ which included specifically targeting the size of the Institute of Peace, as well as other government programs, such as the U.S. African Development Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation. That executive order followed one on Jan. 20 that established DOGE and directed agency leaders to establish their own DOGE teams within their respective agencies as part of the administration’s work to slim down the federal government. 

The Institute of Peace, however, did not comply with the February executive order to reduce its size to the statutory minimum, leading to the Trump administration to fire 11 of its 14 board members last week, Fox Digital learned. 

‘President Trump signed an executive order to reduce USIP to its statutory minimum,’ Kelly said. ‘After noncompliance, 11 board members were lawfully removed, and remaining board members appointed Kenneth Jackson acting president.’

The remaining board members include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin, who on Friday fired acting president and CEO of the institute, George Moose. 

Moose is a Clinton-era diplomat who served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The board replaced Moose with Kenneth Jackson, a State Department official, as acting president. 

Jackson attempted to enter the Institute of Peace’s building in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, but was denied access by employees of the institute, an administration official told Fox News Digital. 

The standoff hit a fever pitch Monday when Jackson and the DOGE team attempted again to gain entry to the building, while Moose, who already had been fired, accused them of breaking into the building and vowed to file a lawsuit. An administration official told Fox Digital that Moose ‘basically barricaded himself’ in his former office after he was fired. 

‘Our statute is very clear about the status of this building and this institute,’ Moose told reporters Monday, according to the New York Times. ‘So what has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit corporation.’

Jackson and the DOGE team held conversations with local police Monday, Fox Digital learned, as they worked to gain entry to the building. The Metropolitan Police Department reported that they received a call from the United States Attorney’s Office at about 4 p.m. that day regarding an ongoing incident at the institute, and reported to the scene. 

‘MPD members met with the acting USIP President, and he provided the MPD members with documentation that he was the acting USIP President, with all powers delegated by the USIP Board of Directors to that role,’ the police department said in a news release of Monday’s incident. ‘The acting USIP President advised MPD members that there were unauthorized individuals inside of the building that were refusing to leave and refusing to provide him access to the facility.’ 

‘MPD members went to the USIP building and contacted an individual who allowed MPD members inside of the building,’ the release stated. ‘Once inside of the building, the acting USIP President requested that all the unauthorized individuals inside of the building leave.’ 

Jackson was able to enter the building upon police intervention. Moose left the building without incident and no arrests were made, police said. 

‘Mr. Moose denied lawful access to Kenneth Jackson, the Acting USIP President (as approved by the USIP Board) @DCPoliceDept arrived onsite and escorted Mr. Jackson into the building. The only unlawful individual was Mr. Moose, who refused to comply, and even tried to fire USIP’s private security team when said security team went to give access to Mr. Jackson,’ DOGE’s X account said of the incident Monday. 

An administration official told Fox Digital that the incident is a prime example of ‘rogue bureaucrats who have been (in government) for years and decades, who want to basically continue to dole out tax dollars unilaterally, with no oversight.’

The Institute of Peace filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Tuesday in the D.C. District Court, calling for ‘the immediate intervention of this Court to stop Defendants from completing the unlawful dismantling of the Institute and irreparably impairing Plaintiffs’ ability to perform their vital peace promotion and conflict resolution work as tasked by Congress.’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Wednesday’s news conference that staffers physically barricaded themselves in the building. 

‘There was a concerted effort amongst the rogue bureaucrats at the United States Institute of Peace to actually physically barricade themselves essentially inside of the building to prevent political appointees of this administration who work at the direction of the president of the United States to get into the building,’ she said. 

‘They barricaded the doors. They also disabled telephone lines, internet connections and other IT infrastructure within the building. They distributed fliers internally, encouraging each other to basically prevent these individuals from accessing the building,’ Leavitt continued. ‘It’s a resistance from bureaucrats who don’t want to see change in this city. President Trump was elected on an overwhelming mandate to seek change and implement change. And this is unacceptable behavior.’ 

The standoff follows other ‘rogue bureaucrats’ at the U.S. African Development Foundation who barred another DOGE team and the acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Peter Marocco from gaining entry to that building March 12. 

The DOGE team returned to USADF the next day accompanied by U.S. Marshals after the Department of Justice determined that they had a right to enter the building, a White House official told Fox News Digital at the time. USADF is an independent government agency established in 1980 by Congress to support ‘African-owned and African-led enterprises,’ according to its website. 

USADF President Ward Brehm, who was fired by the administration last week, subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a district court to bar the administration from removing him from his position. A federal judge denied Brehm’s request. Marocco was named as acting chairman of USADF’s board. 

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report. 

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday made comparisons between challenges being made by left-wing lawmakers to his power and efforts by officials to thwart President Donald Trump’s agenda, saying the  ‘leftist Deep State’ has weaponized the justice system against both of them. 

‘In America and in Israel, when a strong right wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people’s will,’ Netanyahu’s office wrote on X. ‘They won’t win in either place!
We stand strong together.’

The post appears to refer to a coalition of protestors and officials who are accusing the Israeli leader of continuing the war against Hamas for political reasons. Thousands demonstrated on Tuesday night and more protests were taking place on Wednesday after Netanyahu announced that he had lost confidence in Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet internal intelligence agency, and had decided to dismiss him, Reuters reported. 

Netanyahu also faced opposition before the war when he tried to fire then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over his opposition to a planned judicial overhaul.

Meanwhile, Trump is facing dozens of lawsuits over his plans to continue the mass deportation of illegal immigrant criminals and other initiatives, including a ban on transgender people serving in the military and a ban on birthright citizenship. 

Last week, federal Judge James E. Boasberg sought to temporarily block the removal of illegal alien Venezeulan citizens who belong to Tren de Aragua, which the administration previously designated as a foreign terrorist organization, under a wartime authority.

Trump and the White House have harshly criticized judges who have ruled against the administration.

‘This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY,’ Trump declared in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. 

A Republican lawmaker introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg, who is accused of abusing his power from the bench.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt scolded the federal judges during a news briefing. 

‘They are trying to block, delay and impede. This is lawfare,’ she told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich on Wednesday. ‘These partisan activists in the judicial branch didn’t get the memo on Nov. 5 when the American people overwhelmingly re-elected this president to continue with mass deportations.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump held a ‘very good’ phone call on Wednesday, during which the pair discussed the preliminary agreement reached with Russian President Vladimir Putin one day prior.

‘Just completed a very good telephone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine,’ Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social just moments after the hourlong call wrapped. ‘Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs. 

‘We are very much on track,’ Trump added. 

Zelenskyy said the call was ‘positive, very substantive, and frank’ in a lengthy statement posted to social media Wednesday afternoon.

‘I thanked him for a good and productive start to the work of the Ukrainian and American teams in Jeddah on March 11—this meeting of the teams significantly helped in moving toward ending the war,’ the Ukranian president said. ‘We agreed that Ukraine and the United States should continue working together to achieve a real end to the war and lasting peace. We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year.’

Putin on Tuesday agreed to stop hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days, though the ceasefire did not extend to the frontlines or civilian populations as the Trump administration had originally hoped. 

Despite skepticism from Ukraine and European leaders, special envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday said he believes a full ceasefire can be achieved in a couple of weeks. 

He also said an official meeting between Trump and Putin is ‘likely to happen,’ as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security advisor Mike Waltz plan to return to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss the details of the Tuesday agreement. 

It is unclear at this time if a Ukrainian delegation will also be returning to Saudi Arabia to begin discussions with Russian counterparts. 

Putin also agreed to exchange 175 prisoners as well as the return of 23 ‘seriously wounded’ Ukrainians as a ‘gesture of goodwill.’

Just moments after his call with Trump was intended to take place, Zelenskyy said in a post on X that ‘one of the largest POW exchanges’ had taken place and showed a picture of men with Ukrainian flags draped over them returning from Russian captivity. 

Zelenskyy confirmed that 175 soldiers and 22 ‘defenders’ had been released. 

‘We are also grateful to all our partners, especially the United Arab Emirates, for making today’s exchange possible,’ he added, though he did not mention U.S. efforts in the negotiations. 

International leaders voiced frustration that the deal Ukraine agreed to last week was not accepted by Putin during Trump’s discussions with him, though Trump on Tuesday told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on the ‘Ingraham Angle’ that pushing Putin further into a ceasefire would have been tough. ‘Russia has the advantage.’

Zelenskyy’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions following the Trump-Putin call, but in a message posted to X, the Ukrainian president argued that ‘Putin effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire.’

‘It would be right for the world to respond by rejecting any attempts by Putin to prolong the war,’ he continued, highlighting Russia’s continued attacks on Ukrainian civilians, including a Tuesday night Shahed drone strike on a hospital in Ukraine’s Sumy region.

‘Sanctions against Russia. Assistance to Ukraine. Strengthening allies in the free world and working toward security guarantees,’ Zelenskyy listed as steps the Western world should take to counter Putin. ‘Only a real cessation of strikes on civilian infrastructure by Russia, as proof of its willingness to end this war, can bring peace closer.’