By DOUG FEINBERG
The Associated Press

Southern California has its best ranking in 39 years after moving up to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday.

The Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday, beating then-No. 2 UCLA for the second time this year. That victory vaulted USC up two spots for its highest appearance in the poll since the team was second on Jan. 5, 1986. USC garnered six first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel.

“A goal was to come here and bring USC back to what it was at one point,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a phone interview. “Recognition of our history and admiration of the history and its a neat feeling in the present moment.”

Texas remained the top choice after receiving the other 25 first-place ballots. The Longhorns beat Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida last week to wrap up a share of the SEC title with South Carolina.

The Bruins fell to fourth with UConn right in front of them. South Carolina, which won a coin flip to get the top seed in the SEC Tournament, was fifth. Notre Dame dropped three places to six after losing to Florida State last week.

North Carolina State and TCU were seventh and eighth. The Wolfpack shared the ACC regular season crown with Notre Dame while the Horned Frogs won their first Big 12 title after beating Baylor on Sunday.

LSU fell to ninth after the Tigers dropped both their games, losing to then-No. 20 Alabama in overtime and to Ole Miss. The Tigers also will be without star Flau’Jae Johnson for the SEC Tournament as she recovers from shin inflammation.

Oklahoma rounded out the top 10.

Michigan State slipped a notch to No. 24.

Ranked Rabbits

South Dakota State entered the poll for the first time this season, coming in at No. 25. It’s the first time the Jackrabbits are ranked since the preseason poll in 2022. The team went 16-0 in conference play and have gone undefeated in the Summit League three straight years. The Jackrabbits have won 63 straight regular season conference games and are 81-1 dating back to the beginning of the 2020-21 season. The team’s only three losses this season came to Duke, Georgia Tech and Texas.

Conference breakdown

The Southeastern Conference has seven ranked teams. The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each have five. The Big East has two and the Summit League one.

Games of the week

All four of the major conferences begin their tournaments this week with the championship games on Sunday.

By JOHN MARSHALL
The Associated Press

Auburn and Duke remain atop the AP Top 25. The rest of the poll was a big jumble.

Auburn was the unanimous pick at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel in the poll released on Monday. The Tigers held the top spot for the eighth straight week following lopsided wins over Ole Miss and then-No. 17 Kentucky.

Duke was No. 2 for the second straight week after blowing out Miami and Florida State despite playing without guard Tyrese Proctor due to a bone bruise in his left knee.

No. 3 Houston moved up a spot after beating Texas Tech and Cincinnati, while Tennessee climbed to No. 4 following Jahmai Mashack’s last-second 3-pointer from well beyond halfcourt to beat Alabama 79-76.

Florida rounded out the top five, dropping two places after losing to Georgia and beating Texas A&M.

No. 8 Michigan State joined Auburn and Duke as the only teams to have the same ranking as last week.

Rising Red Storm

St. John’s has pulled off quite the turnaround in its second season under coach Rick Pitino.

The Red Storm (26-4, 17-2Big East) have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019, but are pretty much a lock to end the drought after clinching their first Big East regular-season title in 40 years with Saturday’s 71-61 win over Seton Hall.

“We’re just getting started,” Pitino told the Madison Square Garden crowd after the win.

St. John’s also beat Butler last week and moved up a spot in this week’s poll to No. 6, its highest ranking reaching No. 5 in 1990-91.

In and out

No teams moved in or out of this week’s poll.

Rising and falling

No. 14 Louisville made the biggest move of the week, climbing five places following wins over Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. No. 13 Maryland moved up three places after losing to Michigan State by three on Tre Holloman’s last-second heave from beyond midcourt and beating Penn State.

No. 22 Texas A&M had by far the biggest drop, losing 10 places after losing to Vanderbilt and Florida, stretching its losing streak to four straight.

Michigan fell from No. 15 to No. 17 following Sunday’s 20-point loss to Illinois.

Conference watch

The SEC continued its dominance with three of the top five and eight total in the Top 25 this week. The Big 12 has three teams in the top 10 and five ranked teams, while the Big Ten also had five teams in the poll. The ACC has three, the Big East two and the American and West Coast conferences have one ranked team apiece.

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has, for the second time, reversed the renaming of a U.S. military base, saying that Fort Moore in Georgia should revert back to being called Fort Benning.

The move reflects an ongoing effort by the Pentagon to overturn the Biden administration’s 2023 decision to remove names that honored Confederate leaders, including for nine Army bases. But the drive to revert to the former names means finding service members with the same name as the Confederate leaders.

Previously, Fort Benning was named for Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning, a Confederate officer during the American Civil War who stridently opposed the abolition of slavery.

Now, Hegseth said, Fort Benning will be named in honor of Cpl. Fred G. Benning, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross who served in France during World War I. According to the Pentagon, Benning was honored for heroic actions in October 1918, when he led troops through heavy fire after his platoon leader was killed by the enemy.

The renaming of bases is resulting in decisions that insult the military heroes whose names were selected in the 2023 process, including Lt. Gen. Harold Gregory Moore Jr. and his wife, Julia.

Moore is a revered military leader who earned the Distinguished Service Cross for valor and fought in the Battle of Ia Drang in the Vietnam War. And Julia Moore was key to the creation of teams that do in-person notifications of military casualties.

Hegseth last month signed an order restoring the name of a North Carolina base back to Fort Bragg, and warned that more changes were coming.

The North Carolina base had been renamed Fort Liberty in 2023. Its original namesake, Gen. Braxton Bragg, was a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles, contributing to the Confederacy’s downfall.

Now, Bragg is named to honor Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, who the Army said was a World War II hero who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart for exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge.

It’s not clear how much the renaming will cost, but the expense comes as the Trump administration is trying to find savings through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The Naming Commission in its August 2022 report estimated it would cost $4.9 million to rename Fort Benning as Fort Moore, but said there could be additional costs. It put the cost to rename Bragg at around $8 million. Updated costs were not available.

Hegseth said the original Bragg name is a legacy for troops who lived and served there and that it was a shame to change it. And he said he deliberately referred to Bragg and Fort Benning by those names as he entered the Pentagon on his first day in office.

“There’s a reason I said Bragg and Benning when I walked into the Pentagon on day one. But it’s not just Bragg and Benning,” he said. “There are a lot of other service members that have connections. And we’re going to do our best to restore it.”

The lower ranks of the new namesakes indicate the exhaustive research being done by Army and defense leaders to find service members with the same names who have also earned some type of award for their military action and bravery.

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and DAVID KLEPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has paused offensive cyberoperations against Russia by U.S. Cyber Command, rolling back some efforts to contend with a key adversary even as national security experts call for the U.S. to expand those capabilities.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, on Monday confirmed the pause.

Hegseth’s decision does not affect cyberoperations conducted by other agencies, including the CIA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. But the Trump administration also has rolled back other efforts at the FBI and other agencies related to countering digital and cyber threats.

The Pentagon decision, which was first reported by The Record, comes as many national security and cybersecurity experts have urged greater investments in cyber defense and offense, particularly as China and Russia have sought to interfere with the nation’s economy, elections and security.

Republican lawmakers and national security experts have all called for a greater offensive posture. During his Senate confirmation hearing this year, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said America’s rivals have shown that they believe cyberespionage — retrieving sensitive information and disrupting American business and infrastructure — to be an essential weapon of the modern arsenal.

“I want us to have all of the tools necessary to go on offense against our adversaries in the cyber community,” Ratcliffe said.

Cyber Command oversees and coordinates the Pentagon’s cybersecurity work and is known as America’s first line of defense in cyberspace. It also plans offensive cyberoperations for potential use against adversaries.

Hegseth’s directive arrived before Friday’s dustup between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. It wasn’t clear if the pause was tied to any negotiating tactic by the Trump administration to push Moscow into a peace deal with Ukraine.

Trump has vowed to end the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, and on Monday he slammed Zelenskyy for suggesting the end to the conflict was “far away.”

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Hegseth’s order.

Cyber warfare is cheaper than traditional military force, can be carried out covertly and doesn’t carry the same risk of escalation or retaliation, making it an increasingly popular tool for nations that want to contend with the U.S. but lack the traditional economic or military might, according to Snehal Antani, CEO of Horizon3.ai, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity firm founded by former national security officers.

Cyberespionage can allow adversaries to steal competitive secrets from American companies, obtain sensitive intelligence or disrupt supply chains or the systems that manage dams, water plants, traffic systems, private companies, governments and hospitals.

The internet has created new battlefields, too, as nations like Russia and China use disinformation and propaganda to undermine their opponents.

Artificial intelligence now makes it easier and cheaper than ever for anyone — be it a foreign nation like Russia, China or North Korea or criminal networks — to step up their cybergame at scale, Antani said. Fixing code, translating disinformation or identifying network vulnerabilities once required a human — now AI can do much of it faster.

“We are entering this era of cyber-enabled economic warfare that is at the nation-state level,” Antani said. “We’re in this really challenging era where offense is significantly better than defense, and it’s going to take a while for defense to catch up.”

Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi also has disbanded an FBI task force focused on foreign influence campaigns, like those Russia used to target U.S. elections in the past. And more than a dozen people who worked on election security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were put on leave.

These actions are leaving the U.S. vulnerable despite years of evidence that Russia is committed to continuing and expanding its cyber efforts, according to Liana Keesing, campaigns manager for technology reform at Issue One, a nonprofit that has studied technology’s impact on democracy.

“Instead of confronting this threat, the Trump administration has actively taken steps to make it easier for the Kremlin to interfere in our electoral processes,” Keesing said.

By FERNANDA FIGUEROA

As 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada are set to take effect on Tuesday, Hispanic-owned businesses and companies that depend on cross-border trade are already passing higher prices onto consumers and preparing to sharply reduce imports.

The prospect of a North American trade war has already thrown the global economy into turmoil, with consumer confidence tumbling, inflation worsening and the auto sector and other domestic manufacturers bracing for a downturn.

Trump dismissed concerns that tariffs are largely paid for by consumers through higher prices, saying: “It’s a myth.”

It is possible for a stronger U.S. dollar to offset some of the costs, but most economic modeling shows tariffs will effectively amount to billions of dollars in tax hikes nationwide. Along the border, the reality is that prices were already rising in anticipation of Trump’s announcement, and much more disruption now looms.

Chamberlain Distributing represents nine different Mexican farming companies that ship about 5 million boxes of produce every year through Nogales, Arizona, to retail, wholesale and foodservice customers across the U.S. Its owner, Jaime Chamberlain, said he would raise customer prices for all the products he imports, starting Tuesday.

And if the importers of record lack the resources to pay these higher prices, Chamberlain said he won’t be able to support the farmers for more than a week or two. They’ll have to sell at a loss, or not at all. Not everything will sell in Mexico, he said. The tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, beans, squash and other perishable vegetables will be left in the fields and in his two warehouses across the border.

He predicts similar dilemmas industry-wide: Supplies of produce coming into the U.S will decrease, and prices will increase.

Since January, retailers have been bracing for the impact on their bottom lines. Restaurants have already stockpiled non-perishable goods in anticipation of prices going up, said Raul Luis, who owns the Birrieria Chalio Mexican Restaurant with locations in Los Angeles and Fort Worth, Texas.

But Luis can’t do that with the meat and fruit he sources from suppliers in Canada and Mexico. And with event catering, he can’t provide customers with a set price because he does not know things will look like in a few months.

His restaurants already use menus without prices so that he can immediately reflect changing costs without printing new ones. He’s also considering reducing his menu options to avoid higher-priced ingredients. Closing either location is out of the question, he said.

“We have to figure out ways to become more efficient,” Luis said. “We learned from the pandemic that we have to pivot and do things differently and most of our customer base understands that.”

Small businesses are particularly vulnerable, said Ramiro Cavazos, CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“They don’t have the operating revenue that larger companies have,” Cavazos said. “Small businesses would really be on the front lines of having to bear those costs and they would have no choice but to pass those costs to their consumers.”

The state of Arizona benefits from $20 billion in cross-border trade with Mexico — an economy now under stress, said Vanessa Nielsen, a spokesperson for the Arizona-Mexico Commission, which works to foster a collaborative partnership.

In fact, businesses in Mexico already raised their prices in anticipation of Trump’s tariffs, and “these prices are passed ultimately to the consumer,” she said. “Businesses, they want to have some certainty, so they raise them now just in case tariffs happen and they’re already prepared.”

That supply chain is now vulnerable and border relations have been strained, with higher prices a particular concern for people who live south of the border and come into Arizona to buy groceries, she said. Tariffs “would have a weakening effect on these communities at the border that depend on that traffic from Mexico and vice versa.”

Trump also set increased the minimum tariff on all steel and aluminum imports earlier this month from 10% to 25%. This could make housing more expensive and harm the already-low profit margins of small businesses, said George Carrillo, CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council.

Carrillo said construction businesses can only stockpile steel up to a point depending on the revenue and space they have. The fear is that future projects are going to be delayed as prices shift.

“Hispanic businesses, they typically underprice the market because they’re trying to be more competitive than larger companies,” Carrillo said. “Now they have a choice — do I pass this on to the consumer or do I eat this up myself?”

By DIDI TANG and MICHELLE L. PRICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to invest $100 billion in the United States, President Donald Trump said Monday, on top of $65 billion in investments the company had previously announced.

TSMC, the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer, produces chips for companies including Apple, Intel and Nvidia. The company had already begun constructing three plants in Arizona after the Biden administration offered billions in subsidies. Its first factory in Arizona has started mass production of its 4-nanometer chips.

Trump, who appeared with TSMC’s chief executive officer C. C. Wei at the White House, called it a “tremendous move” and “a matter of economic security.”

“Semiconductors are the backbone of the 21st century economy. And really, without the semiconductors, there is no economy,” the president said. “Powering everything from AI to automobiles to advanced manufacturing, we must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here in American factories with Americans skill and American labor.”

Wei said the investment will be for three more chip manufacturing plants, along with two packaging facilities, in Arizona.

The $165 billion investment “is going to create thousands of high-paying jobs,” Wei said.

Former President Joe Biden in 2022 signed a sweeping $280 billion law, the CHIPS and Science Act, to try to reinvigorate chip manufacturing in the U.S., especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, chip factories, especially those overseas making the majority of processors, shut down. It had a ripple effect that led to wider problems, such as automobile factory assembly lines shutting down and fueled inflation.

Trump has criticized the law and taken a different approach, instead threatening to impose high tariffs on imported chips to bring chip manufacturing back to the U.S.

Trump also has said companies like TSMC do not need federal tax incentives.

When asked if the new investment could minimize impact on the U.S. should China either isolate or seize Taiwan, Trump said he couldn’t say “minimize” because “that would be a catastrophic event obviously.”

Taiwan is an island that broke away from mainland China in 1949 following a civil war. Beijing claims sovereignty over the island and has ratcheted up military and diplomatic pressure on its leaders.

“It will at least give us a position where we have, in this very, very important business, we would have a very big part of it in the United States,” Trump said of the chip manufacturing.

He did not say if the investment would provide security for the self-governed island that Beijing considers to be part of Chinese territory.

Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, the island’s de-facto embassy in the United States, said investments by Taiwanese businesses in the U.S. have exceeded 40% of the island’s total foreign investments and that the Taiwanese government is “glad” to see Taiwanese businesses to expand investments in the U.S. and to deep cooperation on supply chain between the two sides.

“It also brings the economic and trade relations closer,” the office said.

Trump has hosted multiple business leaders at the White House since he took office in January to tout a series of investments that aim to demonstrate his leadership is a boon for the U.S. economy. He’s also pointed to the tariff threats as prodding the investments.

“It’s the incentive we’ve created. Or the negative incentive,” Trump said.

In January, he appeared with the heads of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank at the White House as they announced plans for a new partnership to invest up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence. He also announced in January a $20 billion investment by DAMAC Properties in the United Arab Emirates to build data centers tied to AI.

Last week, after Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Trump at the White House, the company announced plans to invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, including plans for a new server factory in Texas. Trump said after their meeting that Cook promised him Apple’s manufacturing would shift from Mexico to the U.S.

“I don’t have time to do all of these announcements,” Trump joked Monday as he listed some of the other investments.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the planned announcement Monday.

Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report. Price reported from New York.

By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — As his White House meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart devolved into a stunning blowup, President Donald Trump leaned on a familiar refrain to explain his unique kinship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said Friday, raising his voice and gesturing with his hands as he recounted the long-since-concluded saga of a federal investigation in which both he and the Russian president played starring roles.

“He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia, ever hear of that deal?” Trump said.

The reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election underscored the extent to which Trump’s lingering fury over an inquiry he has misleadingly branded a “hoax” remains top of mind more than eight years after it began.

It also showed that Trump’s view of a war Russia launched against Ukraine three years ago is colored not only by his relationship with Putin and the alliance he believes they share but also by his fraught past with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was a central player in the first of two impeachment cases against Trump during his first four years in office.

Here’s a look at what the American president means when he says “Russia, Russia, Russia”:

Investigations tied to Putin connections

Questions over Trump’s connections to Putin followed him into his first presidency and hung over him for most of his term, spurring investigations by the Justice Department and Congress and the appointment of a special counsel who brought criminal charges against multiple Trump allies.

While running for office, Trump cast doubt on the idea that Russian government hackers had stolen the emails of Democrats, including his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, and orchestrated their public release in an effort to boost his candidacy and harm hers.

Then, as president, he broke with his own intelligence community’s firm finding that Russia and Russia alone was to blame for the hack. Even when he begrudgingly conceded that Russia might be responsible, he also suggested the culprit might be a “400-pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.”

In July 2018, while meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Trump appeared to embrace the Russian leader’s protestations over the conclusions of U.S. intelligence officials by saying, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”

He added that “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia.

All the while, he memorably raged against the investigation, calling it a “hoax” and “witch hunt” and, as he did at the White House last week, repeatedly deriding all the “Russia, Russia, Russia” attention.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation wrapped up in 2019 and left no doubt that Russia had interfered in the election in sweeping and criminal fashion and that the Trump campaign had welcomed the help. But the inquiry did not find sufficient evidence to prove that the two sides had illegally colluded to tip the outcome of the election.

‘Do us a favor’

If Trump’s history with Russia appears to have contributed to his worldview of the current conflict, so too has his past with Ukraine.

He held a call in 2019 with Zelenskyy and pushed him to investigate corruption allegations against Democratic rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter ahead of the 2020 election, which Joe Biden went on to win.

The call — which included Trump’s memorable line: “I would like you to do us a favor, though” — was reported to congressional leaders and to a government watchdog by a CIA officer-turned-whistleblower who said the president appeared to be soliciting interference from a foreign country in the U.S. election.

After Trump’s call with Zelenskyy, the White House temporarily halted U.S. aid to the struggling ally facing hostile Russian forces at its border. The money was eventually released as Congress intervened.

Trump was subsequently impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate.

The president’s skepticism of Ukraine went beyond the call. During his first term, he also seemingly bought into a long-discredited conspiracy theory that connects Ukraine, not Russia, to the 2016 political interference and the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and repeatedly accused the FBI of a lackluster investigation that led to the blaming of the Kremlin.

What happens next?

The long-term repercussions of the Oval Office spat, in which Trump called Zelenskyy “disrespectful” in the most hostile public exchange in memory between world leaders at the White House, remain to be seen.

But the immediate consequences are clear: Zelenskyy left Washington without signing a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia.

He’s not welcome back, Trump said on social media, until he’s “ready for Peace.” On Monday, the U.S. president again blasted the Ukrainian leader after Zelenskyy noted that a deal to end the war “is still very, very far away.”

With the U.S.-Ukraine relationship now in jeopardy, Zelenskyy has used a series of posts on X to express his thanks to the American people, Trump and Congress for “all the support.”

European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have embraced Zelenskyy in the aftermath of the White House fight.

In Russia, officials are relishing the conflict, sensing an opportunity to move closer to the U.S. and bring about a halt in American aid for Kyiv. That window seemed to open last month when the U.S., in a dramatic reversal, split from European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on U.N. resolutions seeking an end to the war.

In an interview with a Russian state TV reporter that aired Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the new U.S. administration is “rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations.”

“This largely coincides with our vision,” he added.

President Donald Trump said Monday that 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada will start Tuesday, sparking renewed fears of a North American trade war.

Tomorrow tariffs 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico. And thatll start, Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room. Trump has said the tariffs are to force the two U.S. neighbors to step up their fight against fentanyl trafficking into the U.S.

Trump provided a one-month delay in February as both countries promised concessions. But Trump said Monday that there was no room left for Mexico or for Canada to avoid the steep new tariffs.

U.S. stock markets moved sharply lower after Trumps comments.

Trump said he would also add on another 10% tariff on goods from China, on top of the initial 10% he put in place last month.

Today is Monday, March 3, the 62nd day of 2025. There are 303 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 3, 1991, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers after a high-speed chase; amateur video that captured the scene aired on local news that evening, sparking public outrage.

Also on this date:

In 1849, Congress established the U.S. Department of the Interior.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the act creating the National Academy of Sciences.

In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.

In 1943, in London’s East End, 173 people died in a crush of bodies at the Bethnal Green Tube station, which was being used as a wartime air raid shelter.

In 1945, Allied troops fully secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces during World War II after a monthlong battle that destroyed much of the city.

In 1969, Apollo 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a mission to test NASA’s lunar module.

In 2022, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a nationwide settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6 billion in a deal intended to staunch a flood of lawsuits.

Today’s birthdays:

• Filmmaker George Miller is 80.
• Singer Jennifer Warnes is 78.
• Author Ron Chernow is 76.
• Football Hall of Famer Randy Gradishar is 73.
• Musician Robyn Hitchcock is 72.
• Actor Miranda Richardson is 67.
• Radio personality Ira Glass is 66.
• Olympic track and field gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 63.
• Rapper-actor Tone Loc is 59.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Brian Leetch is 57.
• Actor Julie Bowen is 55.
• Actor David Faustino is 51.
• Actor Jessica Biel is 43.
• Singer Camila Cabello is 28.
• NBA forward Jayson Tatum is 27.

By BETH HARRIS, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mikey Madison won the best actress Oscar on Sunday for “Anora,” a role that catapulted the 25-year-old into a burgeoning film career after achieving initial success on television.

The Brooklyn-set comedy-drama had received six nominations.

Madison had been best known for playing a sullen teenager in the FX comedy series “Better Things,” which ended in 2022. She also appeared in the hit movies “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and the fifth installment of the horror franchise “Scream.”

Those jobs attracted the attention of director-writer Sean Baker, who penned the title role in “Anora” for Madison. She studied Russian and did her own stunts in the film, in addition to learning to pole dance to play an exotic dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch.

The film debuted to critical acclaim at Cannes last year, winning the Palme d’Or. It has gained momentum ever since, with its box-office success easily outearning its $6 million budget.

Hollywood veteran Demi Moore of “The Substance” had been the Oscar front-runner, having won over Madison at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards. However, Madison beat out Moore for the BAFTA two days before Oscar voting ended, as well as at last weekend’s Independent Spirit Awards.

She was born Mikaela Madison Rosberg in Los Angeles, one of five children of psychologist parents. Her mother signed her up for an acting class in her mid-teens after Madison had trained in competitive horseback riding, which she found lonely compared to the collaborative nature of acting.

In addition to Moore, the other nominees were Cynthia Erivo for “Wicked,” Karla Sofía Gascón for “Emilia Pérez” and Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here.”

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean Baker won best director at the Oscars on Sunday for “Anora,” bookending a dominant awards season for the American filmmaker whose stories seek to humanize sex workers and immigrants.

Baker, 53, wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, which is also among the top contenders for best picture. The comedy-drama stars Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn exotic dancer who marries the impetuous son of a Russian oligarch. They impulsively tie the knot on a ketamine-induced Las Vegas getaway, angering his parents, who send their bumbling henchmen after the couple to force an annulment.

“If you didn’t cast Mikey Madison in ‘Once Upon a Time,’ there would be no ‘Anora,’” Baker told Quentin Tarantino, who presented the award.

Baker came into the night the favorite for the directing Oscar after earning the top prize from the Directors Guild of America, a win that historically all but guarantees an Oscars victory. He also took home the top awards at the Producers Guild and Independent Spirit Awards.

This year’s best director lineup featured five first-time nominees in the category for the first time in nearly three decades. All had writing credits on their respective films, demonstrating the academy’s growing preference for auteurs who can masterfully bring their own vision to life. For the Oscar, he beat out Brady Corbet of “The Brutalist,” James Mangold of “A Complete Unknown,” Jacques Audiard of “Emilia Pérez” and Coralie Fargeat of “The Substance.”

Going into the night, Baker had the potential to win a record four Oscars for “Anora,” which was nominated for six in total. He won for best original screenplay and best editing — a rarity as directors don’t typically cut their own films. He is also up for best picture.

“Anora” brings Baker’s signature style of provocative comedy from indie theaters into the mainstream, blending slapstick humor with social commentary in a way that makes lessons about marginalized groups palatable to a wider audience. He made the film on a modest budget of $6 million — an amount one producer joked is smaller than the catering budget of some of its competitors. Last year’s best picture winner, “Oppenheimer,” had a $100 million budget.

Baker has been vocal about the difficulty of making independent films and surviving as an indie filmmaker in an industry that increasingly supports big-budget spectacles. In a rousing speech at the Independent Spirit Awards, he said indies are in danger of becoming “calling card films” — movies made only as a means to get hired for projects at major studios. Without backing for independent films, he said, some of the most creative and innovative projects might never be made.

He exhorted filmmakers to keep moving films for the big screen, bemoaning the erosion of the theatergoing experience.

“Watching a film in the theater with an audience is an experience. We can laugh together, cry together, scream in fright together, perhaps sit in devastated silence together. In a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home,” he said.

Baker has long been passionate about using his craft to help destigmatize sex work. His 2012 film “Starlet” follows a budding friendship between an adult film star and a crotchety widow who sells her a thermos full of cash at a yard sale. Baker said the connections he formed with sex workers involved in the project inspired him to feature them in several other films.

He received widespread praise for “Tangerine” (2015), in which he used three iPhone 5S smartphones to tell a story about transgender sex workers in Los Angeles. In “The Florida Project” (2017), a single mother living in an Orlando motel turns to sex work to provide for her daughter. And “Red Rocket” (2021) follows a retired porn actor’s journey back to his small Texas hometown.

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Adrien Brody clinched his second Oscar for best actor, winning Sunday for his role as a visionary Hungarian architect in “ The Brutalist ” and solidifying his legacy as one of Hollywood’s most compelling talents.

Brody took home best actor at the 97th Academy Awards for his powerful portrayal of Lázló Tóth, who escapes the Holocaust and sails to the United States to find his American Dream. The film spans 30 years in the life of Tóth, a fictional character whose unorthodox designs challenged societal norms, and his relentless pursuit of artistic integrity.

Brody triumphed over fellow nominees Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown,” Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing,” Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave,” and Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice.”

“The Brutalist,” which is nominated for 10 Oscars including best picture, is Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half-hour postwar American epic filmed in VistaVision. Brody starred in the film alongside Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce.

After winning best actor at the 78th British Academy Film Awards in February, Brody said “The Brutalist” carries a powerful message for divided times.

“It speaks to the need for all of us to share in the responsibility of how we want others to be treated and how we want to be treated by others,” he said. “There’s no place any more for antisemitism. There’s no place for racism.”

Brody won an Academy Award for best actor in 2003 for his role in “The Pianist.” His gap of 22 years would be the second longest between best actor wins. It was 29 years between wins for “Silence of the Lambs” and “The Father” for Anthony Hopkins.

Brody is also known for his performances “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Darjeeling Limited” and “Midnight in Paris.”

For Brody, his role in “The Brutalist” had obvious echoes with arguably his most defining performance. In Roman Polanski’s 2002 “The Pianist,” Brody also played a Jewish artist trying to survive during WWII.

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “I’m Still Here,” a film about a family torn apart by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for more than two decades, gave Brazil’s first Oscars win on Sunday in the best international film category.

The Walter Salles film stars Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva, the wife of Rubens Paiva, a former leftist Brazilian congressman who, at the height of the country’s military dictatorship in 1971, was taken from his family’s Rio de Janeiro home and never returned.

Salles paid homage to Paiva’s bravery, and Torres for portraying her along with Fernanda Montenegro, the daughter of one of the country’s greatest stars. She appears late in the film as the older Eunice.

“This goes to a woman who after a loss suffered during a authoritarian regime decided not to bend and resist. This prize goes to her,” Salles said during his acceptance speech, as the audience gave a standing ovation. “And it goes to the two extraordinary women who gave life to her.”

“Today is the day to feel even prouder of being Brazilian,” Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wrote on X, “Pride for our cinema, for our artists and, primarily, pride for our democracy.”

The focus of “I’m Still Here,” based on the memoir by Paiva’s son Marcelo, is Eunice, the mother of five left to remake their family’s life with neither her husband nor any answers for his disappearance. It unfolds as a portrait of a different kind of political resistance — one of steadfast endurance.

Eunice refuses the military dictatorship’s attempt to break her and her family. When, in one scene, Eunice and her children — by then long without their disappeared father — pose for a newspaper photograph, she tells them to smile.

“The smile is a kind of resistance,” Torres told The Associated Press. “It’s not that they’re living happily. It’s a tragedy. Marcelo recently said something that Eunice said that I had never heard: ‘We are not a victim. The victim is the country.’”

“I’m Still Here” is a deeply Brazilian story, made by one of the country’s most acclaimed directors (Salles’ films include “Central Station” and “Motorcycle Diaries”) and Montenegro.

Also nominated for best international film were Denmark’s “The Girl with the Needle,” Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Latvia’s “Flow” and France’s “Emilia Pérez,” a onetime Oscars favorite marred by controversy.

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — Detroit center fielder Parker Meadows is out indefinitely with a nerve issue in his throwing arm.

Manager A.J. Hinch said Saturday that there is no timetable for his return from the issue in his upper right arm. The Tigers haven’t yet ruled him out for Opening Day but for now he can’t do any baseball activities.

“My understanding is that we’re in a wait-and-see (situation),” Hinch told reporters. “We’ve got to get that nerve firing again for him to resume baseball activities. Could be short. Could linger a little bit. No one has a firm timetable on when that can be, but we feel like we’re on a really good path now that we have the diagnosis (and) we now have a treatment plan.”

Meadows was injured in Detroit’s spring training opener on February 22 on a throw from center field. It took some time to pinpoint what the problem was before the Tigers announced that he’d be out indefinitely.

The 25-year-old hit .244 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs in 82 games last season. He played well in the postseason, batting .269 with a hit in each of the team’s seven playoff games as the Tigers reached the American League Division Series.

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “No Other Land,” the story of Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by the Israeli military, won the Oscar for best documentary on Sunday.

The collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest to document the destruction of his hometown, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone, at the southern edge of the West Bank. Adra’s pleas fall on deaf ears until he befriends a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him amplify his story.

“About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settlers, violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements,” said Adra.

“No Other Land” came into the night a top contender after a successful run on the film festival circuit. It did not, however, find a U.S. distributor after being picked up for distribution in 24 countries. For the Oscar, it beat out “Porcelain War,” “Sugarcane,” “Black Box Diaries” and “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État.”

The documentary was filmed over four years between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production days before Hamas launched its deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza.

In the film, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham embeds in a community fighting displacement, but he faces some pushback from Palestinians who point out his privileges as an Israeli citizen. Adra says he is unable to leave the West Bank and is treated like a criminal, while Abraham can come and go freely.

The film is heavily reliant on camcorder footage from Adra’s personal archive. He captures Israeli soldiers bulldozing the village school and filling water wells with cement to prevent people from rebuilding.

Residents of the small, rugged region of Masafer Yatta band together after Adra films an Israeli soldier shooting a local man who is protesting the demolition of his home. The man becomes paralyzed, and his mother struggles to take care of him while living in a cave.

By MARIA SHERMAN, Associated Press

First-time Academy Award nominee Daniel Blumberg is now an Oscar winner. He took home the trophy for original score for “The Brutalist” on Sunday.

Blumberg beat Clément Ducol and Camille (“Emilia Pérez”), Kris Bowers (“The Wild Robot”), Volker Bertelmann (“Conclave”) and John Powell and Stephen Schwartz (“Wicked”).

“I’ve been an artist for 20 years now,” Blumberg said in his acceptance speech. “And when I met (director) Brady (Corbet) I met my artistic soulmate.”

Corbet’s “The Brutalist” follows Lázló Tóth, a fictional visionary Hungarian architect who escaped the Holocaust, sailed to the United States to find his American Dream and created the style of architecture the film takes its name from.

When the nominations were announced in January, Blumberg told The Associated Press that he was actually with Corbet when he learned of his first-ever nod. “It’s been quite a surreal day,” he said. The pair shared a hug when the news arrived.

“‘The Brutalist’ was always such an important project for me,” Blumberg continued, describing the team behind it as dedicated to making “something with urgency, to make something with no compromise.”

Earlier in the night, French composer duo Clément Ducol and Camille took home the original song award at the Oscars on Sunday for their track, “El Mal.”

In January, “El Mal” also earned the pair a Golden Globe in the same category.

The musical “Emilia Pérez” is a lot of things — a musical, a transgender parable, endlessly controversial and frequently criticized for its depiction of Mexican culture.

“We are so grateful,” Camille said in her acceptance speech. “We wrote ‘El Mal’ as a song to denounce corruption, and we hope it speaks to the role music and art can play and continue to play as a force of good and progress in the world.”

The award was presented by Mick Jagger. “I wasn’t the first choice,” he joked. “The producers really wanted Bob Dylan to do it.”

Ducol and Camille beat Diane Warren for “The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight,” Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Brandi Carlile and Andrew Watt for “Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late,” and Abraham Alexander, Brandon Marcel and Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada for “Like A Bird” from “Sing Sing.”

They also beat themselves: Their composition “Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez” was also up for the award.

The first-time Oscar nominees had a total of three nominations, including original score, at the 97th Academy Awards.

“You go from anxiety to relief, and you’re filled up with energy and you need that,” Camille told The Associated Press in January, when nominations were announced. “We’ve worked so much, and we’ve worked so much for the campaign … I feel very fulfilled and very happy for all the team.”

Camille said the film’s recognition “represents something very important.”

“It’s a very free, provocative and empathic, compassionate movie. And I really think this is what we need now.”

“It’s totally incredible. I was like, ‘What?’ It’s three nominations. It’s huge,” added Ducol. “We were involved at the beginning of the construction of the story in music … So everything is linked together, is woven together between the script, the screenplay, the songs. And so, we feel like it’s our story, our movie … It’s not just a musical or reflecting a story or reflecting action in the movie. The music and the songs, in this movie, is the script. It is the story.”

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Tazewell made history at the Oscars, becoming the first Black man to win best costume design.

Tazewell won for his masterful design work in “Wicked” at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday. It is his first win and second nomination. He was previously nominated in the category for his work on Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.”

“I’m the first Black man to receive the costume design award,” he said in his acceptance speech, which was met with a couple standing ovations. “I’m so proud of this.”

Backstage, Tazewell said winning the award is the pinnacle of his career. He said he feels humbled to inspire other Black men aspiring to become costume designers.

“I’ve been designing costumes for over 35 years — that has been on Broadway and now it’s film,” he said. “There was never a Black male designer who I saw that I could follow and see as an inspiration. But to realize now that it’s actually me.”

Before the Oscars, Tazewell won awards at BAFTA, Critics Choice and Costume Designers Guild awards. He’s the second Black person to in the category after Ruth E. Carter made history for her work in 2018 for “Black Panther,” which made her the first African American to win in the category.

Carter became the first Black woman to win two Oscars in 2023.

“She has paved the way for designers of color,” Tazewell said.

In his acceptance speech, Tazewell thanked “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthis Erivo.

“To my muses, Cynthia and Ariana and all the other cast,” he said. “Thank you for trusting me with bringing your characters to life. This is everything.”

Tazewell built a legendary career, winning an Emmy in 2018 for his costume work on “The Wiz Live!” and a Tony for “Hamilton.” He worked with Erivo on the 2019 film “Harriet,” which was his first feature film.

Tazewell, who has earned nine Tony nominations, gained notoriety through theater projects such as “The Color Purple,” “In the Heights,” “MJ the Musical,” “Suffs” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

After a topsy-turvy Oscar season in which frontrunners were constantly shuffled, old tweets hobbled a top contender and space was held for Wicked, the 97th Academy Awards get underway Sunday.

Sundays Academy Awards, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, will bring to a close one of the most unpredictable Oscar races in recent memory.

The ceremony kicks off 7 p.m. EST and will be broadcast by ABC and streamed on Hulu. Conan OBrien is hosting for the first time. The official red carpet preshow on ABC and Hulu starts at 6:30 p.m. Unofficial E! red carpet coverage begins at 4 p.m. EST and The Associated Press will livestream arrivals beginning at 3 p.m.

Light rain was in the forecast for Sunday morning in Los Angeles, which is still recovering from wildfires that devastated the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods earlier this year.

The fires affected many throughout the film industry and within the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Some even called for the cancellation of Hollywoods awards season. While his Pacific Palisades house was spared, OBrien has been living out of a hotel the last two months. Oscar producers have said the show will celebrate the citys resilience.

Is there an Oscar favorite?

The lead nominee is Netflixs Emilia Prez, with 13 nominations, but that film has seen its chances crater following uproar over years-old offensive tweets by its star, Karla Sofa Gascn, the first openly trans actor nominated for best actress.

The favorite is Sean Bakers Anora, about a sex worker who weds the son of a Russian oligarch. The Neon release, the Cannes Palme dOr winner, won with the producers, directors and writers guild. The only movie with the same resume to not win best picture is Brokeback Mountain.

Its closest competition is Conclave, the papal thriller starring Ralph Fiennes. It won at the BAFTAs and the SAG Awards, wins that came just as Pope Francis was hospitalized for double pneumonia. Oscar voting concluded before the pope fell ill.

Also in the mix are The Brutalist, nominated for 10 awards, and the musical hit Wicked, also with 10 nominations. Several of the early craft Oscars could be shared between Wicked and Dune: Part Two.

Will politics play a starring role?

For the first time, an actor is nominated for playing the sitting U.S. president. Sebastian Stan is nominated for best actor for his performance as a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice, as is his co-star, Jeremy Strong, for playing Roy Cohn. Trump has called those involved with the film human scum.

The political tenor of this years ceremony could be volatile, with the Oscars coming weeks into the second Trump administration and falling two days after the presidents dramatic rupture with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.

Speaking earlier this week, OBrien said he'll strive to strike a delicate balance.

I cannot ignore the moment were in, he said. But I also have to remember its threading a needle. I also have to remember what were here to celebrate and infuse the show with positivity.

Will Timothe Chalamet win his first Oscar?

While the supporting acting categories feature overwhelming favorites in Zoe Saldana (Emilia Prez) and Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain), both best actor and best actress are close contests.

In best actress, Demi Moore (The Substance) is most likely to win, but Mikey Madison (Anora) or Fernanda Torres (Im Still Here) could pull off the upset.

Adrien Brody is favored in best actor for his performance in The Brutalist. But Timothe Chalamet stands a decent chance of beating him, for his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. The 29-year-old Chalamet, who won at the Screen Actors Guild, would become the youngest best actor winner ever, edging Brodys record, set in 2003 in his win for The Pianist.

Can the show lift a battered Hollywood?

This year's Oscars are unspooling after a turbulent year for the film industry. Ticket sales were down 3% from the previous year and more significantly from pre-pandemic times. The strikes of 2023 played havoc with release schedules in 2024. Many studios pulled back on production, leaving many out of work. The fires, in January, only added to the pain.

Last years telecast, propelled by the twin blockbusters of Oppenheimer and Barbie, led the Oscars to a four-year viewership high, with 19.5 million viewers. This year, with smaller independent films favored in the most prominent awards, the academy will be tested to draw as large of an audience.

With a not particularly starry array of best song nominees, the academy has done away with performances of original songs this year. But there will be music, including a performance by Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, and a tribute to the late Quincy Jones, with Queen Latifah.

Last years acting winners Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy, DaVine Joy Randolph will also take part in the ceremony. Though the academy initially said it would bring back the fab five style of presenting the acting awards, with five previous winners per category, organizers have reportedly abandoned those plans.

The ceremony will be taking place days following the death of Gene Hackman. The 95-year-old two-time Oscar winner and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead Wednesday at their New Mexico home.

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For full coverage of this years Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards

By JUSTIN SPIKE and AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine’s leader will meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday at a pivotal moment for his country, one that hinges on whether he can persuade Trump to provide some form of U.S. backing for Ukraine’s security against any future Russian aggression.

During his trip to Washington, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s delegation is expected to sign a landmark economic agreement with the U.S. aimed at financing the reconstruction of war-damaged Ukraine, a deal that would closely tie the two countries together for years to come.

Though the deal, which is seen as a step toward ending the three-year war, references the importance of Ukraine’s security, it leaves that to a separate agreement to be discussed between the two leaders — talks that are likely to commence Friday.

As Ukrainian forces hold out against slow but steady advances by Russia’s larger and better-equipped army, leaders in Kyiv have pushed to ensure a potential U.S.-brokered peace plan would include guarantees for the country’s future security.

Many Ukrainians fear that a hastily negotiated peace — especially one that makes too many concessions to Russian demands — would allow Moscow to rearm and consolidate its forces for a future invasion after current hostilities cease.

According to the preliminary economic agreement, seen by The Associated Press, the U.S. and Ukraine will establish a co-owned, jointly managed investment fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenues from natural resources, including minerals, hydrocarbons and other extractable materials.

A more detailed agreement on establishing the fund will be drawn up once the preliminary one is signed.

Trump, a Republican, has framed the emerging deal as a chance for Kyiv to compensate the U.S. for wartime aid sent under his predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

But Zelenskyy has remained firm that specific assurances for Ukraine’s security must accompany any agreement giving U.S. access to Ukraine’s resources. On Wednesday, he said the agreement “may be part of future security guarantees, but I want to understand the broader vision. What awaits Ukraine?”

Trump remains noncommittal about any American security guarantees.

“I’m not going to make security guarantees … very much,” Trump told reporters this week. “We’re going to have Europe do that.”

If a truce can be reached, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to send troops for a potential peacekeeping mission to Ukraine to ensure that fighting between Ukraine and Russia doesn’t flare up again. Both leaders traveled to Washington this week before the Zelenskyy visit to discuss with Trump the potential peacekeeping mission and other concerns about the war.

White House officials are skeptical that Britain and France can assemble enough troops from across Europe, at least at this moment, to deploy a credible peacekeeping mission to Kyiv.

It will likely take a “consensual peace settlement” between Russia and Ukraine before many nations would be willing to provide such forces, according to a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

Zelenskyy and European officials have no illusions about U.S. troops taking part in such a mission. But Starmer and others are trying to make the case that the plan can only work with a U.S. backstop for European forces on the ground — through U.S. aerial intelligence, surveillance and support, as well as rapid-response cover in case the truce is breached.

“You’ve created a moment of tremendous opportunity to reach a historic peace deal — a deal that I think would be celebrated in Ukraine and around the world,” Starmer told Trump. “That is the prize. But we have to get it right.”

Zelenskyy has been vague on exactly what kinds of security guarantees would be suitable for his country, and while he continues to advocate for Ukraine’s eventual membership in NATO, he has also suggested a similar security arrangement would suffice.

But Trump on Wednesday said Ukraine “could forget about” joining the Western military alliance.

Still, Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump, their first since the U.S. leader’s inauguration in January, is seen in Kyiv as a diplomatic win for Ukraine. On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said being able to meet personally with Trump before Russian President Vladimir Putin does “is a good signal.”

Zelenskyy said he hopes to discuss whether the U.S. plans to halt its military aid to Ukraine and, if so, whether Kyiv would be able to purchase weapons directly from the U.S.

He also wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for the purchase of weapons and whether Washington plans to lift sanctions on Moscow.

Fears that Trump could broker a peace deal with Russia that is unfavorable to Ukraine have been amplified by recent precedent-busting actions by his administration. Trump held a lengthy phone call with Putin, and U.S. officials met with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia without inviting European or Ukrainian leaders — both dramatic breaks with previous U.S. policy to isolate Putin over his invasion.

Trump later seemed to falsely blame Ukraine for starting the war, and called Zelenskyy a “dictator” for not holding elections after the end of his regular term last year, though Ukrainian law prohibits elections while martial law is in place.

As Zelenskyy seeks to lower the temperature with the U.S. while in Washington, American officials are saying the economic deal, if implemented, would itself provide a measure of security to Ukraine through the presence of U.S. investments on its territory.

On Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. working on mineral extraction in Ukraine would amount to “automatic security because nobody’s going to be messing around with our people when we’re there.”

“It’s a great deal for Ukraine too, because they get us over there and we’re going to be working over there,” Trump said. “We will be on the land.”

That perspective is echoed by the text of the economic agreement, which says the U.S. “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.”

Washington, it continues, has “a long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine.”

Spike reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.