Happy Monday! After taking a quick trip to California and getting engaged to his girlfriend of 3.5 years, Declan is back in the saddle and ready to report the news.

And he’ll have help! Please give a warm TMD welcome to Esther Eaton, who is joining The Dispatch today as deputy editor of The Morning Dispatch. We’re thrilled to have her aboard, and she’s thrilled to help take this newsletter to the next level.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated in remarks to Russian journalists on Sunday Ukraine may be open to adopting a neutral stance as part of a peace deal with Russia—foreclosing the possibility of joining NATO—but added that any such agreement would need to be put to a referendum and guaranteed by other countries. “We will not sit at the negotiating table at all if we talk about some kind of demilitarization, some kind of ‘denazification,’” Zelensky said. “These are completely incomprehensible things.”

• President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a joint task force on Friday aimed at cutting Europe’s dependence on Russian energy by both tapping into alternative sources of liquefied natural gas (LNG) while “align[ing] with climate objectives” and reducing overall demand for fossil fuels. The plan calls for making an additional 15 billion cubic metres of LNG available for Europe in 2022, but does not specify from where the additional supply would come.