Summit

Aug. 18 (UPI) — President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet Monday in the White House.

Zelensky said he expects to discuss “key issues” at the meeting. It comes after Trump’s Friday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

European leaders began arriving at noon Monday, and Trump is expected to greet Zelensky at 1 p.m. with a meeting soon after.

European Council leaders are scheduled to meet via videoconference Tuesday to discuss the meeting. EC President Antonio Costa called the conference, he announced on X Monday.

“I have convened a video conference of the members of the European Council for tomorrow at 1 p.m. CEST, for a debriefing of today’s meetings in Washington, D.C., about Ukraine,” Costa wrote. “Together with the U.S., the EU will continue working towards a lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests.”

European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to accompany Zelensky to Washington Monday for the talk.

In a brief on Truth Social, Trump said Zelensky “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.”

“Remember how it started,” Trump said. “No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE.”

Say you are the president of the United States and the relationship with a significant chunk of your political base has become less than blissfully harmonious. What do you do?

Well, one option is to stage a summit, accompanied by much fanfare, with the president of Russia, ostensibly in order to end that country’s war in Ukraine.

And this is precisely the manoeuvre that was pulled by US President Donald Trump, who on Friday rolled out the red carpet in Alaska for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The short-lived encounter was ultimately anticlimactic, with Trump offering the incisive assessment that “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

Fox News reported that Trump had rated the much-anticipated meeting with Putin a “10” out of 10 and that he particularly “appreciated the Russian president’s comments when he claimed he would not have invaded Ukraine had Trump won the 2020 presidency”.

Fox went on to add that neither head of state had bothered to specify the “reasoning behind these comments”.

At any rate, the no-deal talks constituted a convenient distraction from current intra-MAGA strife, which owes to a couple of factors. There is, for example, the matter of the files relating to the late Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.

When US Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed Trump in May on the Justice Department’s review of the content of the so-called “Epstein files”, she reportedly informed the president that his name appeared therein.

Despite having pledged while on the campaign trail to declassify the Epstein files, Trump changed tack earlier this year and angrily dismissed the investigation as a “hoax”. He went as far as to insult many of his Republican followers as “stupid” and “foolish” for continuing to insist that the Epstein details be released.

On July 12, the president took to social media with his signature preference for manic capitalisation to berate those demanding declassification: “We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.”

And yet this is not the only headache facing the “PERFECT Administration” from within Trump’s own MAGA base, many of whose prominent members have become vocally critical of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, which Trump persists in aiding and abetting.

The genocide, which will mark its two-year anniversary in October, has officially killed nearly 62,000 Palestinians thus far – although the true death toll is undoubtedly many times higher. Apparently, Israel’s behaviour was entirely palatable to much of the US political establishment when it simply consisted of unending massacres, slaughtered and mutilated babies, bombed hospitals, and razed neighbourhoods.

Now that mass starvation has been visibly added to the genocidal mix, however, Israel seems to have crossed a red line even among formerly staunch devotees. As per Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the death toll from malnutrition has hit 251, including 108 children. Images of skeletal Palestinians have flooded the internet, and the United Nations World Food Programme has categorised food shortage in Gaza as “catastrophic”.

Furthermore, according to the UN, the Israeli military has killed at least 1,760 Palestinians since late May alone, as they sought aid, including at sites run by the nefarious so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Backed by the US and Israel, the GHF has not only served Israel’s plans for mass displacement and forced eviction of Palestinians; the aid distribution hubs have also functioned as a sort of one-stop shop for indiscriminate killing – which, after all, is the whole point of genocide.

And while Trump has intermittently chided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the disagreeable optics of the whole spectacle, it has not been sufficient to appease the scrutiny of the likes of right-wing US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a traditional ally of the president known for such antics as wearing a hat imprinted with the words “Trump Was Right About Everything!”

In a social media post last month, Greene – a leading figure in Trump’s MAGA movement – was unexpectedly explicit in her condemnation of “the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza”. Other MAGA fixtures like far-right influencer Laura Loomer – a self-defined “proud Islamophobe” and general bona fide sociopath – wasted no time in responding to Greene’s post: “There is no genocide in Gaza.”

Anyway, political tensions and infighting were at least temporarily removed from the spotlight by the Trump-Putin extravaganza in Alaska. It’s hardly the first time the old art of distraction has come in handy – Trump’s pal, Netanyahu, is the master of this trade. His commitment to waging genocide in Gaza has more than a little to do with his desire to stave off domestic opposition and avoid dealing with the assorted corruption charges in which he is presently embroiled.

And while the Alaskan red-carpet stunt provided little to write home about, distraction may yet prevail as folks ponder what the hell that was all about.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

These days, the Russian army has a hard time scoring any major successes. Its soldiers face a grinding slog in Ukraine, dying by the hundreds, sometimes to advance just a few hundred metres or not at all.

On the diplomatic front, however, the situation is different. Russian President Vladimir Putin secured a major diplomatic victory by holding a summit with United States President Donald Trump.

At Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, it was all bonhomie. Trump clapped as Putin made his way onto the red carpet for a handshake before Trump escorted him into his presidential limo as the Russian leader smiled like a Cheshire cat. The two came away from their nearly three-hour meeting without much to say. Both spoke of agreement on a host of matters. Putin invited Trump to Moscow, who demurred – for now.

Little has leaked thus far on exactly what Putin and Trump discussed. The Russian leader sought to suggest in his remarks to the media that the talks were on his terms, bringing up Russia’s security concerns and praising his US counterpart for trying to “understand the history” of the conflict.

According to Russia’s ambassador to the US, Alexander Darchiev, apart from Ukraine, there were some concrete bilateral issues discussed. He claimed two major diplomatic questions were raised: “the return of six Russian diplomatic properties that were de facto confiscated” during former US President Joe Biden’s administration and “the restoration of direct air traffic” between Russia and the US.

Trump for his part appeared to drop the demand for a ceasefire in Ukraine – something he had publicly called for before the summit. Instead, he agreed to take the Kremlin’s demand for a full settlement of the conflict rather than a ceasefire to Ukraine and its European allies. Later, he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that the European Union and Ukraine agreed with him that “the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement”.

Although Trump seemed to take the Russian position on a ceasefire, the worst possible outcome of the summit was still avoided. The meeting did not turn into a “new Munich”, where Trump would appease Putin just like the French and British leaders appeased Adolf Hitler in a meeting in the German city in 1938 by agreeing to a German takeover of part of Czechoslovakia. The US president did not accede to Russian territorial claims.

That said, for Putin, the summit was a tactical win because it broadcast to the world that the US president himself was casting off the pariah status the Kremlin had earned for its unilateral invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the subsequent war crimes it has overseen. The Russian president was treated like the leader of a “great power” – a status he has long been obsessed with returning Russia to – who had to be negotiated with, on his terms.

So where does all this leave Ukraine and its European allies?

Trump is clearly unwilling to change his position on Ukraine. He admires Putin – his personality and his governing style – immensely.

But Brussels, London, and Kyiv cannot give up on him. The truth is that continued US support is indispensable to Ukraine maintaining its defence. Europe has moved to pick up more of the burden of funding since Trump was inaugurated for his second term, but its military capabilities and defence industry supply chains cannot replace those of the US anytime soon, even if they increase investments exponentially.

Trump wants peace in name and cares nought about the details. For Kyiv, the detail is its very survival, and for the rest of Europe, Ukraine’s fate shapes the potential that it could be the next target of Putin’s aggression in his would-be geopolitically rebalanced world.

That does not mean that there is no way to turn Trump. There is – Ukraine and Europe can use a page or two out of Putin’s playbook in dealing with the US president.

Trump clearly likes his ego to be stroked, which is what Putin repeatedly did in his remarks to the media, echoing, for example, Trump’s claim that if he had been president in 2022, the war in Ukraine would not have happened.

Continuing diplomatic engagement is the way forward, as is seeking to change the frame in which Trump sees the Ukrainian conflict.

The US president cares more about the future of US energy exports, US competition with China, its challenge to US economic dominance and the exploitation of the Arctic than he does about Ukraine. It was Trump’s choice to host the meeting in Alaska, after all, and his obsession with Greenland – so seemingly strange to European allies of the US – makes far more sense in this context.

The key is to persuade the US president that Russia is a threat to Washington’s interests in all of these matters.

An easing of sanctions could see Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects flood into the market and depress the price for US LNG exports. Putin has reshaped Russia’s economy to be dependent on minerals exports to China, fuelling its ability to compete economically thanks to cheap inputs. Putin has also repeatedly sought to push Beijing to be more assertive in economic competition by calling on it to dump the dollar and push new trade and finance frameworks that exclude the US. And Russia is hoping to dominate the Arctic by expanding its Arctic fleet with new nuclear-powered icebreakers and submarines.

For Putin, his war in Ukraine has never been just about the dividing lines in the Donbas or his claimed injustices from the Soviet Union’s collapse. It is a war to reshape the world. On the other hand, Trump sees the war as a distraction and a drag on his own efforts to reshape the world.

Only if Kyiv and the wider West understand Trump’s approach could they persuade him what is at stake. They must focus on how Putin hurts American interests and Trump’s perception thereof. If they fail to do so, while Alaska may have proven to be no “new Munich”, its legacy could be that of one of a “new Yalta” in which Europe’s future is to be shaped by new exclusive spheres of influence drawn by Moscow and Washington.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

ANCHORAGE — President Trump made his expectations clear entering a summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday: “I won’t be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire,” he said aboard Air Force One.

Yet he did, ending his meeting with the Russian leader with curt remarks, taking no questions from the press and offering no sense of a breakthrough toward peace in Ukraine.

It was an immediate success for Putin, who was greeted on the tarmac of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson with applause and smiles from the American president, offered a ride in his iconic vehicle. After years in isolation over his repeated invasions of Ukraine, facing an indictment from the International Criminal Court over war crimes, a red carpet awaited Putin on U.S. soil.

Both men referenced “agreements” in statements to reporters. But Trump implied the question that matters most — whether Russia is prepared to implement a ceasefire — remains unresolved.

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“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left,” Trump said. “Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

In a follow-up interview on Fox News, Trump said the meeting went well. “But we’ll see,” he said. “You know, you have to get a deal.”

Trump’s failure to secure a ceasefire from Putin surprised few analysts, who have seen him pressing Russian advantages on the battlefield and offering no indication he plans to relent.

The question is whether Putin will be able to sustain Trump’s goodwill when the war continues grinding on. On Friday alone, hours before the summit began, Russian forces struck a civilian market in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

The Russian delegation left immediately after the press availability, providing no comments to the press corps on how the meetings went behind closed doors. And after sitting down with Fox, Trump promptly left Anchorage for Washington. The White House issued no statements, readouts or fact sheets on the summit. Administration officials fell silent.

“Putin is going to have to give Trump some kind of concession so that he is not completely embarrassed,” said Darren Kew, dean of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, “probably a pledge of a ceasefire very soon — one of Trump’s key demands — followed by a promise to meet the Ukrainians for talks this fall.”

“Both serve Putin’s goals of delay and appeasing Trump, while allowing more time for Russian battlefield victories,” Kew added, “since ceasefires can easily be broken, and peace talks can drag on for years.”

In brief remarks of his own, Putin said that points of agreement reached with Trump would likely face opposition across Europe, including from Ukraine itself, warning continental allies not to “torpedo nascent progress” in follow-up talks with the White House.

“I would like to hope that the agreement that we have reached together will help us bring us close to that goal, and will pave the path toward peace in Ukraine,” Putin said. “We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive that constructively, and that they won’t throw a wrench in the works.”

It was an acknowledgment that whatever terms agreed upon bilaterally between Putin and Trump’s team are almost certainly unacceptable to Ukraine, a party to the conflict that has lost hundreds of thousands of lives fighting Russia’s invasion since February 2022.

Trump told Fox that a Russian takeover of Ukrainian lands was discussed and “agreed upon,” pending Ukrainian approval — an unlikely prospect given vocal opposition from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and provisions in the Ukrainian Constitution that prohibit the concession of territory.

“Those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed upon, actually. I think we’ve agreed on a lot,” Trump said. “I think we’re pretty close to a deal. Now, look. Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no.”

Europe and Ukraine have argued that conceding land to Putin is not enough. After invading Crimea in 2014, and successfully holding it, Putin came back for more territory in the eastern Donbas — only to launch a full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said this week that its war aims remain unchanged.

“We’re convinced that in order to make the settlement last in the long-term, we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict,” Putin said, “to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia, and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe, and in the world on the whole.”

“The root causes of the conflict,” he added, “must be resolved.”

Kyiv, Ukraine – The Alaska summit between United States President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was a masterclass in how a former intelligence officer uses his skills of manipulation on a self-centred narcissist.

That’s the impression Ukrainian analyst Maria Kucherenko got when watching the interaction between Trump and Putin during their summit on Friday, which broke no ground in stopping Europe’s hottest war since 1945.

Putin “worked [Trump] well”, the analyst with Come Back Alive, a Kyiv-based charity, told Al Jazeera, referring to the years Putin spent as a Soviet spy in East Germany recruiting informants.

On the tarmac at Elmendorf-Richardson, a Cold War-era airbase outside Alaska’s capital, Anchorage, Putin greeted Trump with a “good morning, dear neighbour,” referring to Alaska’s proximity to northeastern Russia.

Trump literally rolled out a red carpet for Putin, gave him a long handshake and a ride in “The Beast”, the presidential limousine – and Putin beamed from the backseat.

During a brief news conference, Putin kept thanking Trump, repeating and rephrasing what the American president had said about the talks, Ukraine and a possible peace settlement.

Putin flattered Trump, including by backing the US leader’s assertions – such as his claim that he could have prevented the Russian-Ukrainian war had he won the 2020 presidential vote instead of Joe Biden.

“Today, President Trump was saying that had he been president back then, there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so,” the smiling Putin told reporters after the talks. “I can confirm that.”

And it was Putin’s manipulation masterfully disguised as saccharine flattery that ended the talks with Trump’s conclusion that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Kucherenko said.

“He fed the narcissist with whatever one needs to feed a narcissist into manipulating him – endless quotes, the endless ‘how the American president said’, endless appellations to the topics [Trump] is interested in,” said Kucherenko, who authored analytical reports on Russia’s military and addressed the US Congress at a 2024 hearing.

‘Nothing concrete’

Putin’s remarks at the news conference after the talks lasted for eight minutes and included a lecture on when czarist Russia owned Alaska and how the Soviet and US militaries partnered during World War II.

He spoke more than twice as long as Trump, who talked for only three minutes and admitted that the talks resulted in an agreement to hold more talks.

“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway. So there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” the US president said.

Trump and Putin also refused to take questions.

As a result, the summit ended with “nothing concrete”, Kucherenko said, as Putin said the “root causes” of the war should be addressed before any ceasefire or real steps towards a peace settlement are made.

“In order to make the [future peace] settlement lasting and long term, we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict, and we’ve said it multiple times, to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia,” Putin said.

“Root causes” is Putin’s code for rejecting Ukraine’s existence outside Moscow’s political shadow and denying its very sovereignty.

The China angle

However, the talks were not a total triumph for Putin, another Ukrainian observer said.

They lasted for less than three hours instead of the seven that Russian officials had announced, and there was no bread broken over a joint lunch.

And what was discussed behind closed doors went far beyond the war.

“Russia works through economy and geopolitics, offers Trump profit here and now, and also haggles over the topic of containing China,” Kyiv-based analyst Igar Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera.

“Based on that, the Kremlin is trying to gain political concessions that could help Russia confirm its ambitions for the status of a geopolitical centre, ” he said.

“And Ukraine is just a derivative part – an important but derivative one – of these processes,” he said.

As the White House wants to prevent the fusion of Moscow’s and Beijing’s interests, Trump finds it beneficial to negotiate business projects and political interactions with Moscow, Tyshkevych said.

“As a result, the United States is not interested in a total defeat and a crisis for Russia. Alas for us,” he said.

However, both Washington and Beijing wouldn’t agree with boosting Moscow’s geopolitical role to the status of a third global power, so the White House only “partially understands” Putin’s ambitions, he said.

What’s next?

For Ukraine, it all means more hostilities and attacks by Russian drones and missiles – while Moscow would boost mobilisation of men of fighting age, he said.

One of Ukraine’s pre-eminent military analysts, meanwhile, is pessimistic about the summit’s outcomes.

The very fact of a face-to-face with Trump on American soil means Putin was “legitimised” and raised from the role of a political pariah, Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of the Ukrainian military’s General Staff, told Al Jazeera.

“He was legitimised in an absolutely unacceptable way” while being an “international evil man who should be held responsible for his actions”, Romanenko said.

“Yet again, Trump didn’t fulfil his promises about sanctions [on Russia], didn’t reach a position on a ceasefire,” he said.

Ukraine, therefore, will have to continue its “complicated fight until Trump grows his willpower and political will”, the general said.

Russia will accelerate its attempts to break through Ukraine’s defence lines in the east and will resume its devastating air strikes with drones and missiles, he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities will need to make strategic decisions to start a “full and just” mobilisation of men of fighting age and focus the economy on military needs, Romanenko said.

The highly anticipated meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ended without a ceasefire deal to stop the war in Ukraine. Trump said he would brief Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the talks, but there was no clear plan agreed for the Ukrainian president to meet with Putin for further negotiations. v

In the lead-up to his much-touted Friday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, United States President Donald Trump expressed confidence in his ability to make concrete progress towards securing a ceasefire in Ukraine at the meeting.

Putin received the red carpet treatment as he was met with a lengthy handshake by Trump as he deplaned at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson military facility in the Alaskan city of Anchorage.

The warm greeting set a congenial tone for what were always going to be tough negotiations. But there was a more subdued atmosphere a few hours later as Trump and Putin departed on their respective planes – with no clear breakthrough on the war in Ukraine.

Here are some key takeaways from their meeting:

‘No deal until there’s a deal’

While the meeting was anticipated to take about seven hours, it wrapped up in less than three. Trump and Putin addressed a gathering of journalists after the talks with relatively brief pre-prepared statements. Neither leader took any questions.

Putin said his country is committed to ending the war, but the conflict’s “primary causes” must be eliminated for an agreement to be long-lasting.

Putin also warned Ukraine and the European Union against throwing a “wrench in the works” and cautioned against attempts to use “backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress”.

A relatively subdued Trump praised the “extremely productive meeting”, in which he said “many points were agreed to”. He said there is a “very good chance of getting there” – referring to a ceasefire – but conceded that there remain sticking points with Moscow, including at least one “significant” one.

He cautioned that it’s “ultimately up to them” – referring to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he said.

And there was none by the time Trump and Putin left Alaska.

A PR coup for Putin

The Russian leader has become an increasingly maligned and isolated figure in the West since waging war on Ukraine in February 2022.

But on Friday, that ended, with a red carpet welcome, a flypast by US fighter jets and warm applause from Trump.

Putin himself seemed pleased, grinning out the window as he drove off the tarmac with Trump in the presidential Cadillac limousine known as “The Beast”.

“For three years they [Western media] have been talking about Russia’s isolation, and today they saw the red carpet that greeted the Russian president in the United States,” Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gloated after the summit, on Telegram.

Talking business

Before the meeting, it was widely anticipated that Putin would attempt to dilute peace talks with talk of bilateral trade and cooperation.

Trump had asserted that there would be no discussion of business with Putin until the pair had made substantive progress on bringing about a ceasefire in Ukraine.

This plan, however, seems to have been derailed somewhat, with the Russian president saying in his post-meeting statement that the pair discussed their collaboration in the areas of tech and space.

“It’s clear that US and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential. Russia and the US can offer each other so much. In trade, digital, high-tech and in space exploration, [and] we see that Arctic cooperation is also very possible,” he told reporters.

Russia has previously tried to pitch its vast reserves of rare earth minerals – critical for several cutting edge sectors – to the US to broker a breakthrough.

Next up: Another meeting – and pressure on Ukraine

As Trump thanked Putin for his time, he said he hoped they would meet again soon. Putin quickly responded by saying, in English with a laugh, “Next time, in Moscow”.

“I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening,” he said in response.

Trump has previously asserted that he hopes to host a trilateral meeting on ending the war in Ukraine very soon, this time attended by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, too. In Alaska, the US leader said he would now call NATO officials and Zelenskyy to discuss the meeting.

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the meeting, Trump was asked how he rated the summit on a scale of 10. He described the meet as a “10 out of 10”.

“We got along great,” he said.

Then, he emphasised the importance of the Ukrainian leader agreeing to a deal.

“Now, it’s really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit. But it’s up to President Zelenskyy,” he said, adding that he’ll attend the next meeting “if they’d like”.

“Make a deal,” he said, in a message apparently for Zelenskyy.

US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin ended in Alaska without a deal on halting Moscow’s war on Ukraine, but it did give the Russian president a “diplomatic win” after years of being shunned by the West, observers said.

The Russian president was greeted with a red carpet and a warm handshake from President Trump on arrival at a US airbase in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday as both leaders arrived for talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

It marked President Putin’s first time stepping on Western soil since he ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and was notable in its welcoming atmosphere compared with the frosty reception a hostile Trump laid on for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in February.

Taking to a stage to deliver remarks after they spoke behind closed doors for less than three hours, the two leaders said they had made progress on unspecified issues, offering no details and taking no questions from a phalanx of assembled international reporters and television cameras.

A visibly upbeat Putin was the first to speak, telling how he had greeted Trump on his arrival in Anchorage with the lines: “Good afternoon, dear neighbour”, owing to the geographic closeness of Alaska to Russia.

“We are close neighbours, and it’s a fact,” Putin said.

Putin said his meeting with Trump was “long overdue” and that he “hoped the agreement that we’ve reached together will help us bring close that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine “.

“We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive that constructively and that they won’t throw a wrench in the works,” Putin said. “They will not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress,” he said.

Trump then thanked Putin for his “very profound” statement, adding that the two had a “very productive meeting “.

“There were many, many points that we agreed on. Most of them, I would say. A couple of big ones that we haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump said.

“So there is no deal until there is a deal,” Trump said, adding that he will now call up NATO as well as President Zelenskyy and others to brief them on the meeting.

“It’s ultimately up to them,” the president said.

“Many points were agreed to,” he continued, without providing any details.

“There are just a very few that are left; some are not that significant, one is probably the most significant,” Trump said without elaborating.

“But we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the outcome of the summit, described as “anticlimactic”.

Ukraine’s opposition lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said on the Telegram messaging app after the talks: “It seems Putin has bought himself more time. No ceasefire or de-escalation has been agreed upon.”

Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Anchorage, Alaska, said President Trump is likely to come in for criticism for a summit that “all became much ado about nothing”.

“The only achievements that were actually made was that the Russian president has been able to continue his war, which we know is now a war of attrition and which each day favours the Russian side,” Halkett said.

“He has bought time,” she said.

Also reporting from the summit, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor, James Bays, said Ukraine’s European allies – who had been pushing for concrete steps to come out of the meeting, such as a ceasefire – will likely see the meeting as “a big win for President Putin”.

“And it does beg all sorts of questions about where the diplomacy on Ukraine goes,” Bays said.

Trump ended his remarks at the news conference on Friday by telling Putin, “I’d like to thank you very much, and we’ll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon.”

To which Putin quickly chipped back: “Next time, in Moscow.”

Trump then responded, saying that he might “get a little heat on that one” but that he could “possibly see it happening”.

Aug. 15 (UPI) — A sixth round of United Nations negotiations on ending plastic pollution broke up in Switzerland early Friday without a deal after disagreements with oil-producing nations pushing for recycling solutions over reducing plastic use.

Delegates from 184 countries worked into the early hours in Geneva to bridge division between more than 100 nations pressing for production limits and oil-rich states, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, arguing that plastic was critical to their future economic health.

The final text did not place restrictions on plastic production but did address other issues like dangerous plastic chemicals, including forever chemicals, and making plastics easier to recycle — but left countries to implement changes as they saw best.

“We have missed a historic opportunity, but we have to keep going and act urgently. The planet and present and future generations need this treaty,” said the Cuban delegation.

Colombia blamed the collapse of what was supposed to be the final treaty negotiations, eight months after countries failed to conclude a deal in Busan, South Korea, on a small group of countries, which it said “simply don’t want an agreement.”

That claim was echoed by Greenpeace’s delegation, saying in a news release that the call was clear for a strong, legally binding treaty that ended plastic pollution from extraction to disposal, protected human health and provided financial help for the clean up

“The plastics crisis is accelerating, and the petrochemical industry is determined to bury us for short-term profits. Now is not the time to blink. Now is the time for courage, resolve and perseverance. And world leaders must listen. The future of our health and planet depends on it,” said the group’s delegation lead Graham Forbes.

The European Union, which along with Britain, had been pushing to cut plastic production and for global plastics standards to boost recycling, was less pessimistic about the outcome, saying it formed a strong basis for further negotiations.

“Plastic pollution is one of the defining crises of our age, and our responsibility to act is clear. While the latest text on the table does not yet meet all our ambitions, it is a step forward — and the perfect must not be the enemy of the good,” said EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall.

“The European Union will continue to push for a stronger, binding agreement that safeguards public health, protects our environment, and builds a clean, competitive, and circular economy. We do this not only for ourselves, but for the generations yet to come,” Roswall said.

The effort looked set to drag into a fifth year, long beyond the 2024 deadline for a comprehensive agreement dealing with the “full life cycle of plastic” mandated in a resolution adopted by the U.N. Environment Assembly in March 2022.

United States President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday in a bid to find common ground that could lead to a lasting ceasefire deal in Russia’s three-year-long war on Ukraine.

The highly anticipated meeting is the latest in Trump’s numerous, but so far unsuccessful, attempts to end the Ukraine war and keep the promises he made on the campaign trail last year, when he claimed he would end the conflict within 24 hours if elected.

It also marks the first time in a decade that Putin will visit the US, as well as the first-ever visit of a Russian leader to Alaska.

While President Trump has tried to downplay expectations ahead of the meeting, he also warned on Thursday that Russia could face “serious consequences” if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire.

Here’s what to know about the Alaska meeting:

When and where are Trump and Putin meeting?

Both leaders will meet at the US military’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.

The time of the meeting is scheduled for about 11:30am Alaska time (19:30 GMT), although this could change.

Accompanying Russian delegation members include: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, and Special Presidential Envoy on Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Kirill Dmitriev.

It is not yet clear who will accompany Trump for the meeting from the US side.

Are Zelenskyy and European leaders attending?

No, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not attend the Alaska meeting, nor will European leaders.

Asked why Zelenskyy was not at the table, Trump chided the Ukrainian president at a White House news briefing on August 11, saying that Zelenskyy had ruled for three years and “nothing happened” in terms of ending the war.

“I would say he could go, but he’s gone to a lot of meetings,” Trump said.

Analyst Neil Melvin of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based think tank, said Europe was essentially an observer in a matter that could determine its fate because it lacked leverage. “​European leaders have been relegated to the margins with the [European Union] seen by Trump and Putin as largely irrelevant,” he said.

Ahead of the meeting, on Wednesday, Trump, alongside US Vice President JD Vance, held a virtual meeting with Zelenskyy and other European leaders. Analysts say it was a final attempt on the part of the Europeans to steer the meeting in Ukraine’s favour.

Zelenskyy joined the virtual meeting from Berlin. Other leaders who attended were from Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Finland and Poland. European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and NATO chief Mark Rutte were also present.

What’s the significance of Alaska as the venue?

Alaska, which is located northwest of the US mainland, is the closest point at which Russia and the US are neighbours. The US state is closer to Russia than it is to the US mainland. On the Russian side, it is closest to the autonomous Chukotka district.

Originally inhabited by Indigenous Americans, the region was first colonised by the old Russian empire in the 18th century. Due to the high costs of maintaining the faraway location, Moscow sold Alaska to the US in 1867 for $7.2m, the equivalent of $162m today. Russian influence still abounds in the region, visible in the Russian Orthodox churches still present, and even in the Russian surnames of some Alaskans.

The Elmendorf-Richardson base, where the meeting will be held, is also significant: It was originally an air force base built in 1940, during World War II. But its role expanded significantly during the Cold War that followed. The US was worried about possible Soviet attacks on Alaska, and thus built monitors and anti-aircraft systems to counter any threats. The airbase was an important part of that mission. The air squadrons based there are still positioned to intercept any Russian aircraft that might seek to enter US airspace.

Still, the US has not clarified why it chose Alaska as the venue for the summit.

What’s on the agenda?

The two leaders will discuss the terms for a possible ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

On the agenda is how such a deal could look, including possible territorial concessions on either side.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Its military currently controls about 19 percent of Ukrainian land across Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and small parts of Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk provinces.

Ukraine controlled parts of Russia’s Kursk region from August 2024 but has since lost most of the territory.

What land swaps could Trump and Putin discuss?

Trump, on Monday, suggested in a news briefing that Ukraine and Russia could swap territory in order to reach a land deal.

However, he walked back that suggestion on Tuesday at another briefing as his suggestion proved controversial across Europe. Trump promised to get back some Ukrainian territory.

“Russia occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We’re going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” he said.

As part of any swap deal, analysts believe that Putin will press for Ukraine to withdraw from the parts of Donetsk that its troops still control. That would give Russia complete control of the Donbas region, which includes Luhansk and Donetsk – Russia already controls almost all of Luhansk – in addition to Crimea and chunks of Kherson, Zaporizhia and other southern regions. It will also want Ukraine to relinquish the tiny part of Kursk in Russia that Kyiv’s forces occupy.

In exchange, Russia might be willing to give up the small areas in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions under its control.

Moscow invaded and illegally occupied Crimea in March 2014. Pro-Russian militias seized parts of the Donbas starting from April 2014, triggering conflict with resisting Ukrainian troops. Much of the region was then taken over by invading Russian forces following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

What are Trump’s expectations for the summit?

President Trump said on Monday that he expects this meeting to be a “feel-type” conversation between him and Putin, one where he understands what the Russian leader wants.

A second meeting, he has said, is likely going to come from it soon and will include Zelenskyy and Putin, with Trump likely hosting it.

However, Trump sounded a more severe tone on Wednesday. He warned that if the Friday meeting ended without Russia agreeing to peace in Ukraine, there would be “very severe consequences” for Russia.

Trump did not specify what US actions might be. He’d earlier threatened economic sanctions on Russia “within 50 days” if Moscow did not end the war. However, the Alaska meeting was announced as the deadline of August 8 arrived, with no significant action from Washington.

Presently, Russia is under significant Western sanctions, including bans on its banks and its crude oil. In late July, the US slammed India with tariffs for buying Russian oil, and this week, US officials have warned of secondary sanctions on that country if Friday’s talks fail.

What has Russia said it wants from the meeting?

Moscow presented a proposal to the US on August 6, last week, stating its requests, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.

Russia’s asks remain similar to its stated goals in June 2024. Moscow says it will stop the war if:

• Kyiv drops its ambitions to join NATO, and if the country disarms significantly.
• If Kyiv pulls back and cedes all of the Donbas in return for Russia halting advances on Kherson and Zaporizhia, and handing back small occupied parts of Sumy and Kharkiv.
• If Western sanctions are relaxed as part of a peace deal.

But Russian officials have since also indicated that they want any movement towards peace to also serve as a launchpad for improved ties with the US. Putin’s delegation for the Alaska summit suggests that Russia might make economic offers – including the promise of investments in the US – to Trump.

What are Ukraine and Europe seeking from the talks?

Zelenkyy has in the past said that Ukraine will not cede territory.

He reiterated that on August 9, in light of Putin’s proposal to Trump, and stated that Ukraine would not “gift land to the occupier” and that it was impossible to do so under Ukrainian law.

Europe, meanwhile, has been nervous about what Trump might agree to. Following the three-way call between Trump, Zelenskyy and European leaders on Wednesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer outlined what the European coalition wanted:

• That the US not agree to any territorial deals without Ukraine being present
• Ukraine needs credible security guarantees as part of any peace deal, that is, a guarantee of non-invasion by Russia.
• Zelenskyy reiterated those calls and added that Ukraine should still be allowed to join NATO if a ceasefire is reached. He also said sanctions should be strengthened if Russia fails to agree to a peace deal on Friday.

What could the outcome be?

Some analysts are hopeful about the prospects of the beginnings of a peace deal emerging from the summit. The big question, they say, is whether Ukraine will agree to a possible deal between the two leaders in Alaska, if its terms are unplatable to Kyiv.

However, others, like Melvin of RUSI, think this meeting is ultimately a play by Russia to stall the US from making good on its sanctions threat, while allowing Moscow to keep advancing militarily in Ukraine.

“Putin believes that he can win [and] is anxious to stall the United States and any further pressure it may seek to put on Russia,” he said. “The most likely outcome of the summit is then that there may be some announcements of steps forward, but the war will continue.”

DONALD Trump and Vladimir Putin are just hours away from holding a historic one-on-one meeting which could shape global politics.

The world’s eyes are poised on Alaska today as leaders of both superpowers prepare to sit down in a peace summit that could decide the fate of Ukraine.

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On Thursday afternoon, Trump likened the high-stakes talks to a game of chess as he warned there is a 25 per cent chance it could end in failure.

He also vowed that Putin “is not going to mess around with me”, insisting the Russian leader “wants a deal” but would face consequences if he becomes greedy.

Trump and Putin are set to meet one-on-one at Elmendorf-Richardson base near Anchorage at 11.30am local time (8.30pm UK) — under extraordinary security.

Putin, who rarely travels abroad since launching his full-scale invasion, will arrive with his feared “Musketeers” bodyguards.

They are notorious for coming armed with everything from armour-piercing pistols to the infamous nuclear briefcase — and even a “poo suitcase” to stop any analysis of Vlad’s health.

The Cold War-era military base has been locked down by US and Russian forces since the meeting was announced last week.

Over 32,000 troops, air defences, and electronic jamming systems are all in place waiting for today’s link up.

The crunch talks will be followed by a joint press conference by both leaders.

The main topic of the meeting will be crisis in Ukraine with Trump pushing to strike a deal with the Kremlin to end the bloodshed.

Also on the agenda will be trade and economic cooperation, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov added.

Trump and Putin will also have a wider meeting with delegations from Washington and Moscow.

They will then attend a working lunch with their security entourage.

For Trump, the meeting stands as a chance to bring peace to war-torn Ukraine and end a conflict which he said would never have started if he were the president back in 2022.

And for Putin, the meeting will decide how much territory he can grab before ending his bloody assault.

The Russian leader, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, said that he wants peace but that his demands for ending his invasion were “unchanged”.

One major sticking point for Moscow is the annexation of more Ukrainian territory – one of Putin’s long-term demands.

It is understood that Trump will try to convince Putin to make peace by offering him deals and concessions.

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Though Washington has said that it will not engage in any agreement on a final peace deal without Ukraine’s formal involvement in the negotiations.

Trump has insisted a deal won’t be made without Ukraine’s blessing with a second meeting set to be arranged soon.

He hinted at a more “important” second round of talks taking place “very quickly” — this time with Volodymyr Zelensky and “maybe some European leaders” in the room.

Putin has tried to sweeten the mood, praising Trump’s “sincere efforts” for peace, even as Zelensky warns he is “bluffing”.

If Putin agrees to a possible ceasefire, both leaders will reach the next stage of peace-making, where they are expected to hold a trilateral meeting with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump has vowed “very severe consequences” if this turns out to be the case.

Zelensky, fresh from meetings with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK PM Sir Keir Starmer, has warned that any talks without Ukraine risk disaster.

Don, who hails himself as a great dealmaker, is said to be planning to present a money-making deal to lure sanctions-hit Putin into peace-making.

The deal will include opening up Alaska’s natural resources to Moscow and lifting some of the American sanctions on Russia’s aviation industry, The Telegraph revealed.

Proposals also include giving Putin access to the rare earth minerals in the Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia.

Trump is seemingly betting on Russia‘s current economy, which has been hit hard by global sanctions since he launched his illegal invasion of Ukraine.

There is also a chance that the meeting could go south as Trump warned that the Russians risk facing “very severe consequences” if they continue to bomb Ukraine and kill innocent civilians.

More than anyone else, the meeting will be key to European leaders who have long supported Ukraine and warned against future Russian aggression.

Zelensky and European leaders are likely to reject any settlement proposals by the US that demand Ukraine give up further land.

They want to freeze the current frontline as it is – giving away the territory already being held by the Russians.

Zelensky has reiterated that Ukraine will not cede any further territory to Russia.

But it may not be up to the embattled leader if he is presented with a take it or leave it offer in the latter stages of the peace process.

Trump announced on Friday that the only way to resolve the issues is for both sides to accept losses of land.

He said: “It’s complicated, actually. Nothing is easy. It’s very complicated.

“We’re going to get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.”

The MAGA president said he would try to return territory to Ukraine.

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Don added: “Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They’ve occupied some very prime territory.

“We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine.”

After Trump held a call with the European leaders on Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed that Trump reaffirmed that Trump would not negotiate territorial issues with Putin.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron will not be engaging in any “schemes for territory swaps” during the summit.

The summit is set to take place at Elmendorf-Richardson base, one of the most strategic locations in the Arctic.

Bristling with troops from the US Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as National Guardsmen and Reserves, it is a symbolic location for both the US and Russia.

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President Trump says the Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin could “set the table” for trilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He denied the meeting rewarded Putin, as critics warned it could undermine US efforts to isolate Russia.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump said his goal is to save Ukrainian and Russian lives during Friday’s peace summit that will be held at a military base in Anchorage, Alaska.

The high-level meeting was announced last week, and it is hoped that it will lead to an end to the war in Ukraine.

“We’re going to see what happens with our meeting,” Trump said when a reporter asked if the United States might offer Russia access to rare-earth minerals as an incentive to end the war in Ukraine.

The meeting “is going to be very important for Russia and very important for us only in that we are going to save a lot of lives,” Trump said during a Thursday afternoon press conference at the White House.

He said the United States is being paid in full for military equipment obtained by Ukraine through NATO.

“We’re not spending any money anymore,” the president said. “[President Joe] Biden gave them $350 billion, [and] we got nothing for it.”

He said a rare-earth minerals deal with Ukraine will help the United States recoup its costs for helping Ukraine in its defense against Russia, which invaded the nation in February 2022.

“What I’m really doing this for is to save thousands of soldiers a week,” Trump said. “Last week they lost 7,251 people, mostly Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.”

Friday’s summit won’t be the most important meeting to end the Ukraine war, he added.

A second meeting that would include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be the most important, Trump said.

Putin on Thursday announced his intentions for Friday’s Alaska summit.

The Trump administration “has been making what I consider to be fairly vigorous and sincere efforts to halt hostilities, resolve the crisis and reach agreements that serve the interests of all parties involved in this conflict,” Putin said in an address to “colleagues.”

“The aim is to establish long-term conditions for peace not only between our countries but also in Europe and indeed globally,” Putin added,” especially if we proceed to subsequent stages involving agreements on strategic offensive arms control.”

The summit will be held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage and starts at 11:30 a.m. ADT, according to Putin aide Yury Ushakov.

Near the military base, “a memorial cemetery holds the remains of nine Soviet pilots, two military personnel and two civilians who perished between 1942 and 1945 while ferrying aircraft from the United States to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program,” Ushakov said.

“Thus, the meeting will unfold near a site of profound historical importance — one that underscores the wartime camaraderie between our nations,” he said.

The summit will start with a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin with interpreters present, followed by a delegation format that extends into a working lunch.

Each delegation will have five members, in addition to Trump and Putin, and the two presidents will hold a joint press conference afterward.

Ahead of Friday’s summit, Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Prime Minister’s Office at 10 Downing Street in London.

The meeting was to show the United Kingdom’s support of Ukraine after Zelensky was not invited to Friday’s Alaska summit.

LONDON — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised President Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine, more than three years after Moscow launched its invasion, as the two leaders prepared for a pivotal U.S.–Russia summit Friday in Alaska.

Following a meeting Thursday with top government officials on the summit, Putin said in a short video released by the Kremlin that the Trump administration was making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities” and to “reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved.”

Putin also suggested that “long-term conditions of peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole,” could be reached under an agreement with the U.S. on nuclear arms control.

In Washington, Trump said there was a 25% chance that the summit would fail, but he also floated the idea that, if the meeting succeeds, he could bring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting.

In a radio interview with Fox News, Trump also said he might be willing to stay in Alaska longer, depending on what happens with Putin.

Meanwhile, Zelensky and other European leaders worked to ensure their interests are taken into account when Trump and Putin meet in Anchorage.

Uncertainty for Europe

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Zelensky to London on Thursday in a show of British support for Ukraine a day before the critical Trump-Putin meeting. The two embraced warmly outside Starmer’s offices at 10 Downing Street without making any comments, and Zelensky departed about an hour later.

Zelensky’s trip to the British capital came a day after he took part in virtual meetings from Berlin with Trump and the leaders of several European countries. Those leaders said that Trump had assured them that he would make a priority of trying to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine when he meets with Putin.

Speaking after the meetings to reporters, Trump warned of “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin doesn’t agree to stop the war against Ukraine after Friday’s meeting.

While some European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, praised Wednesday’s video conference with Trump as constructive, uncertainty remained over how the U.S. leader — whose rhetoric toward both Zelensky and Putin has evolved dramatically since retaking office this year — would conduct negotiations in the absence of any other interested parties.

Both Zelensky and the Europeans have worried that the bilateral U.S.-Russia summit would leave them and their interests sidelined, and that any conclusions could favor Moscow and leave Ukraine and Europe’s future security in jeopardy.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov tamped down expectations for any breakthroughs from the Friday summit, saying there were no plans to sign documents and that it would be a “big mistake” to predict the results of the negotiations, according to Russian news outlet Interfax.

The Kremlin on Thursday said the meeting between Trump and Putin would begin at 11:30 a.m. local time. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters that Trump and Putin will first sit down for a one-on-one meeting followed by a meeting between the two delegations. Then talks will continue over “a working breakfast.” A joint news conference will follow.

Trump contradicted the Kremlin, saying that no decisions have been made about holding a news conference with Putin. The uncertainty reflects just how much about the summit, including its schedule, remains unsettled.

Ukraine’s territorial integrity

Starmer said Wednesday that the Alaska summit could be a path to a ceasefire in Ukraine, but he also alluded to European concerns that Trump may strike a deal that forces Ukraine to cede territory to Russia. He warned that Western allies must be prepared to step up pressure on Russia if necessary.

During a call Wednesday among leaders of countries involved in the “coalition of the willing” — those who are prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv — Starmer stressed that any ceasefire deal must protect the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine.

“International borders cannot be, and must not be changed by force,’’ he said.

Kyiv has long insisted that safeguards against future Russian attacks provided by its Western allies would be a precondition for achieving a durable end to the fighting. Yet many Western governments have been hesitant to commit military personnel.

Countries in the coalition, which includes France and the U.K., have been trying for months to secure U.S. security backing, should it be required. Following Wednesday’s virtual meetings, Macron said Trump told the assembled leaders that while NATO must not be part of future security guarantees, “the United States and all the parties involved should take part.”

“It’s a very important clarification that we have received,” Macron said.

Trump did not reference any U.S. security commitments during his comments to reporters on Wednesday.

Some Ukrainians are skeptical

With another high-level meeting on their country’s future on the horizon, some Ukrainians expressed skepticism about the summit’s prospects.

Oleksandra Kozlova, 39, who works at a digital agency in Kyiv, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she believes Ukrainians “have already lost hope” that meaningful progress can be made toward ending the war.

“I don’t think this round will be decisive,” she said. “There have already been enough meetings and negotiations promising us, ordinary people, that something will be resolved, that things will get better, that the war will end. Unfortunately, this has not happened, so personally I don’t see any changes coming.”

Anton Vyshniak, a car salesman in Kyiv, said Ukraine’s priority now should be saving the lives of its military service members, even at the expense of territorial concessions.

“At the moment, the most important thing is to preserve the lives of male and female military personnel. After all, there are not many human resources left,” he said. “Borders are borders, but human lives are priceless.”

Russia and Ukraine trade strikes

Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine had secured the release of 84 people from Russian captivity, including both soldiers and civilians. Those freed included people held by Russia since 2014, 2016 and 2017, as well as soldiers who had defended the now Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that it too had received 84 soldiers as part of a prisoner exchange.

In other developments, Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Sumy region overnight Wednesday resulted in numerous injuries, Ukrainian regional officials said. A missile strike on a village in the Seredyna-Budska community wounded a 7-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man, according to regional governor Oleh Hryhorov. The girl was hospitalized in stable condition.

In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack damaged several apartment buildings in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, near the border with Ukraine, where 13 civilians were wounded, according to acting governor of the region, Yuri Slyusar. Two of the wounded were hospitalized in serious condition, Slyusar said.

Pylas and Spike write for the Associated Press. Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary. AP writers Lorne Cook in Brussels; Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine; Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Downing Street on Thursday to maintain the momentum of a European push to influence a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The high-profile meeting between the British and Ukrainian leaders, reported by the BBC, Sky News and The Telegraph, was described as a carefully choreographed display of support timed for just hours before the historic U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska, which Zelensky was left out of.

Neither man commented nor provided any details of their discussion when the pair emerged from No. 10 after around 60 minutes.

The London talks came as the Kremlin confirmed “resolving the Ukraine crisis” would be the main focus of the summit and that the delegation headed by Putin would include top aide Yuri Ushakov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Russian sovereign wealth fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev.

Co-chairing a meeting of European leaders, Zelensky and Trump on Wednesday, Starmer said a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine was a “viable” outcome from what he called Friday’s “hugely important” meeting, but stressed Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” must be defended and international borders “must not be changed by force”.

“As I’ve said personally to President Trump for the three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on, we haven’t got anywhere near a prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” said Starmer.

“And now we do have that chance, because of the work the president has put in.”

However, Starmer said any cease-fire would have to be lasting and therefore needed “robust and credible security guarantees” and that European allies had established “this Coalition of the Willing” to back a post-war Ukraine militarily, with troops if necessary, to preempt Russia from breaking any peace agreement.

The bloc backed Zelensky’s demand that no decisions be made without Ukraine at the table.

Trump emerged from the meeting to put Putin on notice he would face “severe consequences” if he did not agree to a cease-fire when the pair meet in Anchorage on Friday. Trump said that, provided the meeting went well, he would also seek a second meeting between Putin and Zelensky to hammer out the details of a peace deal.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska for talks on the war in Ukraine.

But concern is increasing in Kyiv and among its European allies over fears of Ukraine being sidelined.

So, what’s at stake at the Alaska summit for all sides?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests: 

Anatol Lieven – Director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Steven Erlanger – Chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe for The New York Times

Alex Titov – Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast and a specialist in Russian foreign policy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reiterated that there should be no peace talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war now in its fourth year without representation from his country, and also said Russia should face sanctions if it does not agree to an immediate ceasefire, following a virtual meeting between him, United States President Donald Trump and European leaders.

Zelenskyy delivered the message after the call on Wednesday, two days ahead of a summit between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which comes as part of Washington’s so far failed attempts to end the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Trump promised to hold trilateral talks with both Ukraine and Russia, if Friday’s summit “goes OK”.

“I would like to do it immediately,” he said. “We’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself if they’d like to have me there.”

The US president also vowed that Moscow would face “severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to end its war.

In a joint statement, leaders of the UK, France and Germany said that Russia should face tougher sanctions if it fails to agree to a ceasefire on Friday.

Kyiv must also be given “robust and credible security guarantees” and have no limitations placed on its armed forces or on its cooperation with other countries, they added.

“The Coalition of the Willing is ready to play an active role, including through plans by those willing to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased.”

The rapid developments came after Trump met virtually with Zelenskyy and other European leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron and the United Kingdom’s Keir Starmer on Wednesday.

Arranged in a bid for Europe to try and influence Trump’s meeting with Putin on Friday, this second call took place after talks earlier in the day between Zelenskyy, European leaders and the heads of NATO and the European Union.

Thanking German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for hosting the meetings, Zelenskyy said on X that Ukraine and Europe were “cooperating constructively with the United States”.

“I hope that today we have come closer to ending the war and building a guaranteed peaceful future,” he concluded.

Trump and European leaders called their joint meeting a success, with the US president describing it as a “very good call”.

“I would rate it a 10. Very friendly,” he said, speaking during a press conference at the Kennedy Center.

Trump noted that he would be calling Zelenskyy and European leaders immediately following his meeting with Putin.

At a press conference with Merz, Zelenskyy expressed his hope that the Trump-Putin summit would focus on an “immediate ceasefire”.

“Sanctions must be in place and must be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire,” he added.

As the Russian army continues to make sizable territorial gains in the east Ukrainian province of Donetsk, Zelenskyy told the US president and his European colleagues that Putin was “bluffing” about pursuing peace.

His choice of words, a term commonly used in reference to poker, evoked Trump telling Zelenskyy, “you don’t have the cards” in the infamously hostile news conference at the White House on February 28th.

“He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front,” Zelenskyy suggested. “Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine.”

After the Trump call, Merz, who described the meeting as “exceptionally constructive”, stressed that Ukraine is willing to negotiate, but noted that “legal recognition of Russian occupation is not up for debate”.

“The principle that borders cannot be changed by force must continue to apply,” Merz said.

“Negotiations must include robust security guarantees for Kyiv,” he added. “The Ukrainian armed forces must be able and remain able to effectively defend the sovereignty of their country. They must also be able to count on Western aid in the long term.”

After the online meeting, France’s Macron said Trump would be seeking a ceasefire in Ukraine during his meeting with Putin on Friday.

The US president would also seek a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy in the future, the French president noted.

The Trump-Putin summit in Alaska has been a cause for anxiety in Kyiv and Europe more widely, after Trump declared that both Ukraine and Russia would have to swap land if a truce is to be reached.

Speaking from the UK on Wednesday, JD Vance, the US vice-president, seemed to try to allay fears in Europe.

“I just talked to him [Trump] right before I came on the stage, and he said very simply that we are going to make it our mission as an administration to bring peace to Europe once again,” Vance said.

Reporting from Berlin, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen said there was “some optimism” in Europe that Trump had agreed to Wednesday’s meeting.

However, Vaessen noted that European leaders were still “concerned that everything changes as soon as President Trump is in that room with President Putin, who they know is a very keen, a very sharp negotiator”.

Elsewhere, the Russian Foreign Ministry sought to downplay the relevance of Europe’s last-minute diplomatic efforts with Trump, branding them “practically insignificant”.

On the battlefield, Russia has claimed to have captured the villages of Suvorovo and Nikanorovka as its gains in Donetsk continue, with the Ukrainian authorities issuing evacuation orders for around a dozen settlements.

The Kremlin’s forces achieved their largest 24-hour advance in more than a year on Tuesday, according to data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.

German chancellor has arranged a series of meetings, beginning with European leaders and followed by a call with the US president.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European leaders and top United States officials ahead of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week.

Both the German and Ukrainian governments confirmed the visit on Wednesday, which comes as Kyiv and its European allies push to ensure their voices are heard in discussions about ending the war.

Merz has arranged a series of virtual meetings, beginning with European leaders and followed by a call with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance about an hour later.

The day will conclude with a separate discussion among leaders of the so-called “coalition of the willing” – an assemblage of Western countries allied with Ukraine.

At a news briefing on Wednesday, Merz also pledged to help Ukraine develop long-range missile systems without Western-imposed restrictions on their use or targets.

Trump to meet Putin

Trump has described Friday’s summit with the Russian leader in Alaska as “a feel-out meeting” to gauge whether Putin is serious about ending the conflict.

But he has unsettled European allies by suggesting Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory and by floating the idea of land swaps, without specifying what Moscow might surrender.

European governments have insisted Ukraine must be part of any peace negotiations, warning that excluding Kyiv could benefit Moscow.

On Monday, Trump declined to commit to pushing for Zelenskyy’s participation in his talks with Putin, saying a meeting between himself, Putin and Zelenskyy could be arranged afterwards.

Zelenskyy claimed he rejected an offer on Tuesday that Putin had proposed, where Ukraine would withdraw from the 30 percent of the Donetsk region it still controls as part of a ceasefire deal.

Kyiv and European officials fear that any US–Russia agreement reached without them could legitimise Moscow’s seizure of Ukrainian territory – including Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson – four regions which are partly occupied by Russia.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said Trump and Putin would discuss “all the accumulated issues” at the meeting.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexei Fadeev also said that consultations requested by European countries were “insignificant”.

Russia’s position on ending its war on Ukraine was set out by President Vladimir Putin in June 2024 and has not changed, he added. Putin at that time demanded a full Ukrainian withdrawal from the four regions of the country that Russia has claimed as its own territory but does not fully control.

Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine

Meanwhile, fighting continues along the front line, with the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reporting 165 clashes with Russian forces over the past day, with the heaviest fighting in the Pokrovsk, Novopavlivka and Lyman sectors.

In the Kherson region, Russian forces used a drone to strike a civilian car on the Novoraisk–Kostyrka highway, killing a man and a woman, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin on Telegram.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences destroyed 46 Ukrainian drones overnight across Russian territory and the Sea of Azov.

Debris from intercepted drones fell on the roof of an apartment block in the southern city of Volgograd and in the yards of four residential buildings in Slavyansk-on-Kuban.

The AFP news agency has also reported that Ukraine is continuing to lose more ground, with evacuations in Bilozerske, while Ukrainian battlefield monitoring group DeepState reported that Russian forces had advanced in Nikanorivka, Shcherbynivka and near Petrivka in the Donetsk region.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian General Staff said its forces were engaged in “difficult” fighting near Pokrovsk in Donetsk, a key logistical hub for Kyiv’s forces, whose capture would deal a significant blow to its front-line defences and prospects at securing a favourable peace deal with Russia.

European leaders are scrambling to convince United States President Donald Trump to use his upcoming summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to amplify pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine on terms acceptable to Kyiv.

Trump, who has promised to end the three-year war, plans to meet Putin in Alaska on Friday, saying the parties are close to a deal that could resolve the conflict.

Trump recently told reporters that, “I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, ‘You’ve got to end this war. You’ve got to end it.’”

The US president said Kyiv and Moscow would both have to cede land in a compromise. “There’ll be some land swapping going on,” he said. Trump has, in the past, discussed the possibility of land swaps. However, neither Russia nor Ukraine have been interested in ceding land to each other as part of a peace agreement.

European leaders worry that major concessions to Russia could create security problems for the region in the future. On Wednesday, August 13, major European leaders are first convening among themselves and with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and are then scheduled to speak to Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.

Here’s what Europe and Ukraine request of Trump, as he prepares for the meeting with Putin;

Keep Ukraine in the room

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said he would not be at the summit in Alaska, the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin with both in office since 2018.

But he said he hoped it would be followed by “a trilateral meeting” with Trump and Putin, though the Russian leader has so far said he is not willing to meet Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian president added that, “I believe that Trump represents the United States of America. He is acting as a mediator – he is in the middle, not on Russia’s side. Let him not be on our side but in the middle.”

On August 9, heads of state from France, Italy, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the European Commission issued a statement in support of Ukraine. “We underline our unwavering commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” they said, adding: “We continue to stand firmly alongside Ukraine.”

The statement also insisted that “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is convening a video call on Wednesday involving Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Zelenskyy and several European leaders to discuss Ukraine, has since doubled down on that message.

“We cannot accept that territorial issues between Russia and America are discussed or even decided over the heads of Europeans, over the heads of Ukrainians,” Merz said in a television interview on Sunday.

“I assume that the American government sees it the same way. That is why there is this close coordination,” he added.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on August 10 that “the US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously”, but “any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security.”

Ceasefire first

Last week, Putin presented the Trump administration with a ceasefire proposal, demanding major territorial concessions from Kyiv in eastern Ukraine in exchange for an end to the fighting, according to European officials.

The offer, which Putin shared with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on August 6, set off a scramble to obtain further information. According to Zelenskyy, Putin has asked that Russia be handed over all of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a third of which Kyiv still holds.

But European leaders and Ukraine have responded with a counterproposal of their own, forwarded in a meeting with top US officials in Britain on Saturday. The European plan rejected Russia’s proposal to trade Donetsk for a ceasefire.

It also included demands that a ceasefire take place before any other steps are taken and insisted that territory can only be exchanged in a reciprocal manner.

Finally, the proposal stipulates that any territorial concessions made by Kyiv must be safeguarded by security guarantees, including potential NATO membership for Ukraine.

Ukraine, too, has long argued that a halt in fighting must precede any longer-term peace agreement. Russia on the other hand, has insisted on a larger peace settlement as a condition for a ceasefire.

What else has Zelenskyy said?

Last weekend, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done,” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier”.

Zelenskyy also pointed out that he doesn’t have the authority to sign off on land swaps. He said that changing Ukraine’s 1991 borders runs counter to the country’s constitution.

Elsewhere, Zelenskyy said in a video message posted to his social media account on Monday night that “he [Putin] is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war”.

“There is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation,” he said.

“On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations. If someone is preparing for peace, this is not what he does,” he added.

What else has Trump said?

On Monday, Trump criticised Zelenskyy over the Ukrainian leader’s resistance to ceding territory to Russia, saying he disagrees “very, very severely” with Zelenskyy.

“I get along with Zelenskyy, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done. Very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Trump went on to say that “I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval.’ I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap – because there’ll be some land swapping going on,” Trump said.

He added that the land swap will be “for the good of Ukraine,” before adding that a possible deal will also involve “some bad stuff for both” Kyiv and Moscow.

“So, it’s good and there’s bad, but it’s very complex, because you have lines that are very uneven, and there’ll be some swapping. There’ll be some changes in land,” Trump said.

“We’re going to have a meeting with Vladimir Putin, and at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” he said.

“Ultimately, I’m going to put the two of them in a room. I’ll be there, or I won’t be there, and I think it’ll get solved,” Trump added.

Published on
12/08/2025 – 15:34 GMT+2

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Russian markets are reacting positively to the upcoming visit by President Vladimir Putin to the United States — his first since 2015 — with the MOEX Russia Index climbing above 2,950 points, its highest level since late April.

The index initially rose last Wednesday as Putin met with Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow. It then began to climb again as the location of the Trump-Putin summit was announced on Friday.

On Tuesday at around 15.15 CEST, the MOEX was trading at 2,959.63, a bump of 1.2% compared to its close at around 2,924.63 on Friday.

Investors are hopeful about a diplomatic breakthrough at the upcoming Trump–Putin meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, likely counting on an easing of sanctions or new trade channels being unlocked.

The jump was buoyed by Russian energy giants, with Gazprom shares climbing 3.65% and Novatek surged 5.44%, according to the Moscow Times.

Geopolitical buzz

Geopolitical buzz can swing markets as investors are encouraged by the possibility of conflict resolution or escalation.

Just the prospect of high-level talks can trigger climbs in sectors tied to trade, energy or infrastructure.

However, uncertainty or lack of results can just as quickly reverse the gains, which could happen if the much-anticipated summit does not produce any tangible results — something that is likely due to the fact that European powers are so far not involved in the talks between Trump and Putin.

It also remains unclear how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be incorporated in the talks, as he and European powers insist there can be no lasting deal without Kyiv agreeing to it as well.

Before the 2022 sanctions caused by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the MOEX Russia Index was trading near record highs above 3,800 points in late 2021, backed by strong oil prices and post-pandemic recovery momentum.