Brigitte Bardot, Zelenskyy-Trump meeting, Kennedy Center

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By Elizabeth Both

December 28, 2025

By Elizabeth Both

December 28, 2025

 
 

Good morning and welcome to the Sunday edition of Morning Wire, where we give you the weekend rundown to get ready for the week ahead. Today, multiple countries reject Israel’s recognition of Somaliland; Brigitte Bardot dies at 91; and the Kennedy Center criticizes a musician who canceled their performance after President Trump added his name to the building. 

But first, Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Trump today in Mar-a-Lago. 

 

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UP FIRST

AP Morning Wire

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a media conference at the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Zelenskyy to meet with Trump as efforts to end Russia-Ukraine war remain elusive

President Donald Trump will host his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday to try to close out a peace agreement that would end nearly four years of war that began with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The two will meet at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where the U.S. president is spending the holidays. Zelenskyy said he will raise “territorial issues” as Moscow and Kyiv remain fiercely at odds over the fate of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • Russia strikes Ukraine’s capital and kills at least 1 person a day before Zelenskyy-Trump meeting
  • Photos show the destruction after Russia’s latest attacks on Kyiv
 

TOP STORIES

New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Center, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Kennedy Center criticizes musician who canceled performance after Trump name added to building

The president of the Kennedy Center fiercely criticized musician Chuck Redd's decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • Kennedy Center Christmas Eve jazz concert canceled after Trump name added to building

More countries reject Israel’s recognition of Somaliland

A growing number of countries on Saturday rejected Israel’s recognition of Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent nation a day earlier, the first by any country in more than 30 years. It wasn’t known why Israel made the declaration Friday or whether the country was expecting something in return. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • Somalis vote in the first one-person, one-vote local election in decades
  • Al-Shabab extremists are greatest threat to peace in Somalia and the region, UN experts say
 

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IN OTHER NEWS

French actress Brigitte Bardot poses with a huge sombrero she brought back from Mexico, as she arrives at Orly Airport in Paris, France, on May 27, 1965. (AP Photo/File)

READ

Obit: Brigitte Bardot, 1960s sultry sex symbol turned militant animal rights activist dies at 91

Gallery: Photos remembering Brigitte Bardot, iconic French actor and activist

International tensions: Iran’s president says his country is in a full-scale war with the West

Campaigns: Anonymous money fuels $5 million in attacks on Georgia’s Lt. Gov. Burt Jones

Weather: Winter storm snarls holiday travel across US Northeast, Great Lakes

Hollywood lawsuit: Tyler Perry sued for sexual assault by 'Boo! A Madea Halloween' actor seeking $77 million

Sneaky sweeteners: Foods with healthy-sounding buzzwords could be hiding added sugar in plain sight

End of the year: