New Delhi, Oct. 18 -- Budapest takes the spotlight as blackouts, refinery fires and a restless drone war redraw winter's map.

KYIV - The war's 1331st day opened with two clocks ticking at different speeds. In Europe, repair crews moved through half-lit neighborhoods, tracing fresh scorch marks along power lines after another night of strikes on energy sites. In Washington, staffers prepared for an Oval Office session between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald J. Trump, a meeting freighted by Trump's declaration a day earlier that he and Vladimir Putin had agreed to meet in Budapest to "discuss ending the war," a proposal that instantly sharpened the debate over weapons, leverage and what a credible peace process might req...