Trump's Ukraine Vote Plan Amid War and World Violence

Donald Trump has floated the most disruptive idea yet for ending the war in Ukraine: holding a new presidential election as a condition of any peace deal, arguing Kyiv may need a fresh leader to negotiate with Moscow. The idea follows his October 9 call with Vladimir Putin, after which Trump told reporters Putin "very much wants" a deal. On the ground, the war grinds on regardless. Zelensky said Ukraine would stop striking Russian refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukrainian energy sites, but overnight brought the opposite: Russian aircraft hit two apartment blocks in Sloviansk, wounding four, a drone struck an ambulance in Sumy region, injuring its crew, and another torched warehouses near Kyiv in Bucha. With the front now just 20 km from Kramatorsk, authorities widened its mandatory child evacuation zone. Kyiv's General Staff put Russian losses since 2022 above 700,000 troops. Violence flared elsewhere too. A Houthi rocket hit Riyadh's King Khalid airport, killing 12 people from eight countries and wounding over 300, the deadliest Gulf strike since Yemen's war escalated. In Pennsylvania, a gunman killed four at a mall in Erie. And Polish police were alerted to a possible plot to assassinate PM Donald Tusk and his defense minister. Little relief from the skies either: rain is forecast across most of Ukraine October 12-14, with frost already settling over the west.