Trump asks Zelensky to halt refinery strikes

Plus: How to ask for help  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Olivia-Anne Cleary | September 14, 2026     Hello, readers. I don’t know if it’s the intrinsic "back to school” feeling that comes with this month, but I can’t quite shake the urge of wanting a reset—and it turns out, I’m not alone. All across the Internet, you’ll see September being referred to as “the new January.” A time to embrace new beginnings and set goals for the months ahead. I’m all for it, and I hope you’ll consider joining me. Why should we have to wait until the new year to start afresh? In today’s Brief, we’re also looking at how you can best ask for help (easier said then done, I know) and how the Gulf is rethinking its approach to security amid the Iran war. Plus, stick around for a seriously suave viral moment. IN TODAY’S BRIEF Trump’s request of Zelensky The CEO Moment The art of asking for assistance The Gulf faces a major test The search for 129 people Shaken, not stirred         READ THIS FIRST Trump wants Ukraine to stop striking Russian refineries. What could that mean for the war? Ukrainian Presidency/Anadolu—Getty Images President Donald Trump has called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt strikes on Russia's diesel fuel infrastructure and refineries, claiming the attacks are contributing to a fuel shortage. Zelensky did not immediately respond to Trump’s comments, but he has previously said that these refineries fund and fuel Russia’s war with Ukraine. He said that his country’s attacks are meant to disrupt Moscow’s financing capacity. "Every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war,” Zelensky said in April. Olena Lennon, a practitioner in residence of national security at the University of New Haven, says ending the attacks would deprive Kyiv of an unusually effective source of leverage. “Taking away one of Ukraine’s most effective pressure points inside Russia, one that has actually put Russia on the back foot, would significantly weaken Ukrainian leverage and set Ukraine back, leading to more Ukrainian deaths,” she tells TIME. —Rebecca Schneid         SPONSORED Some teams never seem to stop moving. They're on Attio, the agentic CRM. It’s your always-on revenue engine: agents and workflows build pipeline, chase every buying signal, and move deals forward alongside your team. Teams like Parallel, Turbopuffer, and Wordsmith build on Attio. Are you one of them? Try Attio now         HAPPENING NOW Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky thinks he can make cities more affordable Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Thinks He Can Make Cities More Affordable Next year, Airbnb will mark its 20th anniversary. Through its evolution—from a few air mattresses placed on an apartment floor to one of America’s best-known technology companies—it has been led by Brian Chesky. And at a time when Silicon Valley doesn’t champion introspection, Chesky, 45, is an outlier: someone who has become a prominent voice on company leadership and a frequent investigator of his own character. “The primary weakness of me as a founder running a company was people had to pay for my immaturity in my thirties,” he told me during a recent interview at Airbnb’s headquarters in San Francisco for our new interview series, The CEO Moment. “But I said it was a good long-term bet.” We spoke as the company, called out by critics as contributing to rising housing costs in the cities where it operates, was set to announce a number of new housing initiatives. —Sam Jacobs         HEALTH CHECK How to recognize and ask for help when you need it VladSt—Getty Images Humans aren’t perfect. We aren’t supposed to have all the answers, capabilities, or capacities. As a psychologist, I encourage the people I work with to take an inventory of the needs that they have. We have to understand that, as emotionally healthy adults, we need to meet many of our own needs ourselves. Some of our needs we can ask other people for help with, and some of our needs will go unmet. When asking for help, pick a supportive person. Then, ask politely. When we ask for help, we might want to consider what our body language, posture, tone of voice, and choice of words say about us and our request. Similarly, making demands, threats, or insults—or insisting someone help us—can also be off-putting, and decrease our chances of getting support.  When we ask for help, we also must be prepared for someone to say no. If they do, we must learn not to take it personally. Most of the time, their reasons for refusal are not about us. It could be about their own time management, finances, or resources. —Joan M. Cook         SPONSORED Invest in the Future of Popcorn Popsmith is reimagining popcorn for a new generation. With 100,000+ customers, $20M+ in lifetime revenue, and sales projected to reach $9M in 2026, the premium popcorn brand is expanding nationwide and raising capital for its next stage of growth. See the Opportunity         IN FOCUS How the Iran war forced the Gulf to rethink its security Fadel Senna-AFP via Getty Images Showing up at a funeral matters everywhere, but especially in the Arab world and the wider Middle East. When Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was buried on July 9, just over four months after he was killed in a joint American-Israeli military strike, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman sent official delegations to the funeral. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain did not. To many analysts, the absence was more telling than any official statement. Before the war, the Gulf states were diversifying their economies beyond oil, betting on remaining islands of stability in a turbulent Middle East. President Donald Trump’s decision to wage war on Iran, despite their opposition, exposed the fragility of that bet. War-risk insurance costs soared, and Iranian attacks followed. Saudi facilities at Abqaiq and Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas complex were hit; the UAE intercepted barrages for weeks; Bahrain and Kuwait weren’t spared either. Though it wasn’t widely reported, Saudi Arabia and the UAE struck Iran, as, according to some accounts, did Qatar—though Doha denies it. In private, Gulf officials confirm that most Gulf Arab states retaliated. The war produced unusual strategic convergence among the Gulf monarchies. There is now widespread recognition that the region’s existing security framework has failed. Though coordination behind the scenes may run deeper, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), created in 1981, has invoked its collective-defense clause only once. Officials broadly agree on three points: Iran remains a long-term threat; the U.S. security umbrella is no longer dependable; and regional stability has become an existential priority. They also see two clear challenges. One is an Iranian regime that continues to pursue its vision of an “Iranian Axis” across the region. The other is an Israel bent on “regional paramountcy,” the presumption that it alone sets the terms of force while the region adjusts. Yet consensus on diagnosis only sharpened disagreement over the prescription. Competition among the Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE, means that convergence remains a trend rather than a settled fact. But such rivalry is hardly unique to the region. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced a fractious Europe into greater cohesion without resolving disagreements over how forcefully to confront Moscow. Iran and Israel are now subjecting the Gulf Arab states to a comparable test. —H.A. Hellyer         ONE NUMBER 129 Rescue teams in Indonesia on Monday were searching for 129 people who were unaccounted for after a ferry capsized in the Java Sea, killing at least six people, according to local authorities. SOURCE: CNN         A VIRAL MOMENT The name's Bond Social media is full of praise for the U.S. Open camera operator who opted to pan to former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan at the exact moment the clock showed 0:07.         SPONSORED The Future of AI in Marketing. Your Shortcut to Smarter, Faster Marketing. This guide distills 10 AI strategies from industry leaders that are transforming marketing. Learn how HubSpot's engineering team achieved 15-20% productivity gains with AI Learn how AI-driven emails achieved 94% higher conversion rates Discover 7 ways to enhance your marketing strategy with AI. Outpace your competitors by mastering AI. Get Your Free Guide       Linked In this addictive word-association game, find the steps that will unite two seemingly unrelated words in just four moves. PLAY NOW       ALSO WORTH YOUR TIME IDEAS The High Cost of Winning a Michelin Star WORLD How Escalating Attacks in Yemen Impact Global Oil Trade       More Newsletters from Click to sign up. D.C. BRIEF +FUTURE PROOF +HEALTH MATTERS +INSIDE TIME +IN THE LOOP +WORTH YOUR TIME + Subscribe to TIME Email us: thebrief@time.com Received this from a friend? Sign up here Connect with TIME   PRIVACY POLICY     © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved. TIME Customer Service, P.O. Box 37508 Boone, IA 50037-0508, United States Unsubscribe