The midterms

Trump said somebody else should negotiate for Ukraine.

On the South Lawn Monday, before Marine One, he said Russia has been “fine” on Ukraine. Rubio said Tuesday that nothing in the weapons pipeline had changed. The $5,000 checks are still a promise.

Video · The White House

Ohio

Ramaswamy will spend $4 million on the ad with Acton's mother.

He confirmed Tuesday evening that the spot is his. Donna Arthur tells voters not to make her daughter governor. Her son called the ad despicable. The buy, Axios reported, is statewide.

Diplomacy

Witkoff shook Putin's hand, and Hubbard is free.

At Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, the ninth meeting, Putin said the American held since 2022 was at the airport to fly home with the envoy. No peace deal was announced.

Ukraine

Four people were killed overnight, two of them in Kyiv.

A drone hit an apartment building in the capital. Near Kharkiv, an 83-year-old man and an 81-year-old woman were killed. The prime minister said power sites were hit in Kyiv, Volyn, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.

Prices

Wholesale prices rose 6.3 percent.

The producer-price index jumped 1.3 percent in September, the biggest monthly gain since March 2022. Energy prices for producers rose 10.8 percent. Economists had expected a much smaller move. Social Security’s cost-of-living raise for next year is 3.6 percent.

Space

Four astronauts splashed down off California.

SpaceX brought Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot, and Andrey Fedyaev home on Thursday after eight months. They had gone up in February to replace a crew sent home when a NASA astronaut fell ill.

Video · Associated Press

The arsenal

Ukraine’s drones still run on Chinese parts.

Magnets, motors, chips, sensors and battery cells still come from China, a dozen makers told the Associated Press. Switching to Western parts could raise the cost by 60 percent and cut production by as much.

Mexico

Trudy is a tropical storm, and the warnings are down.

At 8 a.m. Mountain time the center was about 190 miles west-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, with winds near 60 mph. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect. The National Hurricane Center said it should become post-tropical by early Tuesday.