Plus, please don’t ski down the volcano. On Today’s Episode:Trump Flips the Script on the Ukraine War, Blaming Zelensky Not Putin, by Peter BakerBucha Has a Question: Does Trump Remember the Russian Massacre?, by Kim BarkerTrump Administration Moves to End New York’s Congestion Pricing Tolls, by Ana Ley, Stefanos Chen, Winnie Hu and Benjamin Oreskes‘Long Live the King’: Trump Likens Himself to Royalty on Truth Social, by Benjamin OreskesNearly One in 10 U.S. Adults Identifies as L.G.B.T.Q., by Claire Cain Miller and Francesca ParisHamas Hands Bodies of 4 Hostages Back to Israel, by Aaron BoxermanMigrants, Deported to Panama Under Trump Plan, Detained in Remote Jungle Camp, by Julie Turkewitz, Farnaz Fassihi, Hamed Aleaziz and Annie CorrealDelta Offers $30,000 to Passengers on Plane That Crashed in Toronto, by Yan ZhuangAs Tourists Swarm Erupting Mount Etna, Italian Authorities Warn Them Away, by Eve SampsonTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [email protected].
Chapter 1: What are today's headlines from The New York Times?
From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Thursday, February 20th. Here's what we're covering.
Chapter 2: Why is Trump blaming Ukraine for the war?
A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Got to move. Got to move fast because that war is going in the wrong direction.
Tensions are flaring between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky over how to end the war in Ukraine. On Wednesday, President Trump mocked the Ukrainian leader, called him a dictator, and repeated his false claim that Ukraine started the war. He also suggested that Zelensky is effectively ripping off the U.S. by asking for military aid.
Europe has failed to bring peace, and Zelensky probably wants to, maybe he wants to keep the gravy train going. I don't know what's the problem, but he has a problem. We are talking about four points. We saw this disinformation. We understand.
Zelensky, meanwhile, said Trump is caught in a web of Russian disinformation about the war and said that he would, quote, like to have more truth with the Trump team. It was some of Zelensky's most open criticism yet of Trump, and it came on the heels of Trump sidelining Ukraine. while he pushes forward on negotiations directly with Russia.
I've been talking to Ukrainians about this remarkable about-face that the American government has had on its position on Ukraine. And what I'm hearing is shock, anger, outrage.
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Chapter 3: How is the Ukraine conflict perceived by Ukrainians?
My colleague Kim Barker is based in Ukraine. She's been reporting from the town of Bucha, which became a symbol of Russia's brutality during the invasion.
Bucha was the site of one of the most shocking massacres by Russian troops in the early days of the war. They seemed to use Ukrainians walking by almost for target practice, and then they just left the bodies on the streets.
I met a guy on Wednesday afternoon, and he was really angry that Trump would sit down with the Russians and that the Americans would actually negotiate with a high-level Russian team when the country that was actually invaded, Ukraine, wasn't even at the table. Mixed in with that anger about the pivot of America,
is this fear of, like, what is going to happen next if America, which has been Ukraine's biggest ally since Russia invaded three years ago, what happens if America actually stops the support? Where will Ukraine be left then? And I talked to one woman who said, if America abandons us, we're screwed.
You talk to soldiers on the front line, though, and they're going to say, we're going to keep fighting no matter what.
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Chapter 4: What is Trump's stance on New York's congestion pricing?
Also yesterday, President Trump continued to test the bounds of federal power as he moved to end New York City's congestion pricing program. Since January, drivers have been charged a $9 toll to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan. It's designed to limit congestion and raise billions for repairs to the subway and other projects. Early data showed it's working.
Traffic's been down since the program started. But Trump has repeatedly criticized it, calling it a burden on working-class drivers and saying it will hurt tourism and business in the city. Yesterday, Trump's secretary of transportation said approval for the program will be revoked. And Trump wrote on social media, quote, congestion pricing is dead. Manhattan and all of New York is saved.
He signed his message, long live the king. The White House doubled down on that, recirculating his post with an illustration of Trump wearing a crown.
I'm here to say New York hasn't labored under a king in over 250 years. Woo!
New York's Governor Kathy Hochul was quick to respond.
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Chapter 5: Why did Trump refer to himself as 'king'?
I don't care if you love congestion pricing or hate it. This is an attack on our sovereign identity, our independence from Washington.
In Trump's first month in office, he's repeatedly gotten involved in state and local issues, some of which may be out of federal reach. In addition to New York's tolls, he's also weighed in on California's water management policies, overruling officials there. And he signed an executive order calling for patriotic education in schools. when curriculum's generally been handled at a local level.
Last night, he even suggested the federal government should run the District of Columbia, saying there was too much crime. The district's governed itself since the 1970s, but Trump said, quote, I think we should take over Washington, D.C. New data released this morning by Gallup shows a sharp rise in the number of American adults who identify as LGBTQ.
Nearly 1 in 10 Americans now say that's how they identify, almost triple the number from 2012 when Gallup began tracking it. The increase has been driven in large part by young people. Nearly a quarter of Gen Z adults aged 18 to 27 identify as LGBTQ. It's also been driven by a jump in people who say they're bisexual. The survey also showed that 1.3% of people say they are transgender.
That's doubled in the last few years. The data comes as the Trump administration has moved to restrict transgender rights, banning transgender girls from school sports teams and banning transgender people from the military.
Yesterday, Trump's new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced the government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, saying the administration is, quote, restoring biological truth to the federal government. But many medical experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say that not everyone fits into neat categories of male and female.
Now, three updates on stories from this week. In the Middle East this morning, Hamas returned the bodies of four Israeli hostages who were taken on October 7th. They include an elderly man and a mother and her two young children. It's not clear how they died, though Hamas says they were killed in Israeli airstrikes while being held in Gaza.
In exchange, Israel's releasing a group of Palestinian prisoners. It's part of the ongoing ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. This weekend, Hamas is expected to return six hostages who are still alive. In Panama, nearly 100 migrants who were recently deported from the U.S. have been moved to a detention camp on the outskirts of the jungle.
The migrants are from countries like Iran and China, and some had arrived in the U.S. hoping to seek asylum. Instead, they were put on a plane to Panama City after Panama struck a deal with the U.S. to take in deportees. They spent days locked in a hotel before being transferred to the remote camp.
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