the DON JONES INDEX…
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(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 8/21/25... 44,938,31; 8/14/25... 44,922.27; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)

LESSON for AUGUST 21st, 2025 – “FRIDAY NIGHT GASLIGHT!”

Part One: “South, from Alaska!”

The summit meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump in Alaska, largely adjudged to have been “inconclusive” at best and, without Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskky (specifically banned while the big power pair made plans for his future, that of Ukraine and its people), was met with dismay, contempt and astonishment by European politicians; only the Hungarian president believing that the major powers of the US and Russia are on the right track amidst denunciations that Moscow was re-colonizing the breakaway republic. The German Euractiv coronists, (August 16^th, ATTACHMENT ONE) simply dismissed the public proclamations of progress as mere “gaslighting”.

Now it’s back to the sketching board.

Trump has spewed forth solutions, or proposed solutions, the kernel in the cornhole being either a two-way sitdown between Putin and Zelenskyy, at which some “deal” might manifest, or... on the other hand... a three-way pock-a-way with the American President Himself on hand to impart words of wisdom and, once the presumed solution (or surrender) is agreed upon, to take credit for the settlement, collect his Nobel Peace Prize and perhaps even forgive Hillary Clinton.

Alaska implied he might have a problem.

“The problem is Russian imperialism, not Ukraine's desire to live freely,” said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. “If Putin were serious about peace talks, he would not have been attacking Ukraine all day today,” Lipavsky wrote on X.”

Similar denunciations arrived from most of the European observers with Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė calling Putin’s remarks urging Ukraine and the EU not to “sabotage” the talks a scam.

“More gaslighting and veiled threats from Putin. A war criminal with a history of poisoning his critics addresses the US President with, ‘Very good to see you in good health and to see you alive,’” she said.

Similar declarations of disapproval came from Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Chair of the Committee on Security and Defence at the European Parliament, who called the summit “a bitterly angry burlesque,” former German ambassador to the United States Wolfgang Ischinger – commenting that Putin received his “red carpet treatment,” while Trump got nothing and a warning from Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide warning that Putin “aims to divide the unity between the EU and the US.”

Only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban found the gaslight illuminatory.

"For years, we have watched the two biggest nuclear powers dismantle the framework of their cooperation and shoot unfriendly messages back and forth. That has now come to an end. Today,” Orban (a rare pro-Kremlin leader in Europe) said on X, “...the world is a safer place than it was yesterday." 

THURSDAY

As reported by the 1440 correspondents, the Trump/Putin summit had been scheduled for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, at 3:30 pm ET – “conducted one-on-one with two translators present—and followed by lunch with their delegations and a joint press conference” (which plans did not turn out exactly as planned).

Specifically excluded was Zelenskyy, although the American President “told reporters his aim (was) to secure a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. (ATTACHMENT TWO)

X06 Time’s Simon Shuster published excerpts of a conversation with Eric Green (Senior Director for Russia and Central Asia at the National Security Council) who helped organize the last US/Russia summit four years ago.

The circumstances were... as the talking heads never tire of repeating... dire. Putin, clearly preparing for his invasion had sent tens of thousands of troops to the border as Russian hackers launched a series of crippling ransomware attacks against American hospitals and businesses. On top of that, an important nuclear treaty between the U.S. and Russia was about to lapse.

“So Biden did what his successor, Donald Trump, would end up doing four years later: He invited Putin to meet and talk.

“When he talks about root causes, he’s talking about Ukraine’s existence as a sovereign, independent country,” Green explains. “That’s not Trump’s to give away.” (August 15, ATTACHMENT THREE)

But seizing some Ukrainian territory would not satisfy Putin’s desire to bring the entire country under Russian control (and after that, most agree, the rest of Europe, America, the world).

Vladimir Solovyov, one of the leading propagandists on Russian state TV, made this clear to his millions of viewers this week. “Don’t delude yourselves,” he told them of the summit’s prospects for peace. “This war is for a long time.”

Since the Biden summit, Mister Shuster opines, the only thing that has stopped Putin from taking the whole country “has been Ukrainian military force, bolstered by Western weapons.” As the war has devolved into “a grinding, bloody stalemate centered mostly around the eastern region of the Donbas, where Russian forces have continued making slow territorial gains, mile by mile, despite their own horrifying losses and the wholesale destruction of the towns and cities Putin claims to be liberating,” Putin reiterated on August 1^st, that the goals of Russia, have not changed: “...the main thing is to uproot the causes of this crisis” which is to say, the existence of Ukraine itself.

Putin set the scene last week after meeting Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, when he ruled out meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until certain conditions were met — conditions that he said remained “far off.” (Washington Post, August 14^th, ATTACHMENT FOUR)

“Trump agreed,” the Post said (“capitulated” would perhaps have been a more accurate term) “and dismissed the idea of Zelensky’s attendance, even as the future of his nation — and its 40 million citizens.”

The American President dropped his planned imposition of tough sanctions against Russian oil, scrapped his call for a ceasefire leading former senior Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev, who resigned over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, said Putin had offered so little “that it was difficult to see why Trump agreed to meet”; a Kremlin ploy to divert Trump from sanctions or, as other speculators anonymously speculated, a gesture to “soothe the Russian elites, for whom this war is a disgrace, and want everything to get back to normal.”

But Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the meeting was to find out what Putin wants, when “it’s totally visible what the other side wants.”

Zelensky, he warned, had to accept “some land swapping” that would be “for the good of Ukraine” but also “some bad stuff for both.”

Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the German parliament from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, said the exclusion of Europe and Ukraine from the meeting in Alaska meant the end of the West, in the sense of a collective alliance of the United States, European Union nations and NATO allies.

“‘The West’ as an emotional or ethical term — it’s over,” Kiesewetter said. “That’s my main concern.” His other fear, he added, is the fate of Ukrainians.

Despite Ukraine’s exclusion from the summit, a “senior source” expressed cautious hope... claiming that Putin’s “last card” was to prolong the killing until Trump... goaded on by Zelenskyy and the Euros, changed his mind again about sanctions.

A source close to Zelensky told The Independent U.K. that Putin only has one goal in mind: “The main thing for Putin is to try to trade land for ceasefires. The ability to kill and to prolong war is the only card Putin has. So, he’s trying to play this card.” (August 13^th, ATTACHMENT FIVE)

Trump cut all military aid to Ukraine earlier this year. The total US military spend there has amounted to €114bn (£84bn), which is dwarfed by the current pledged contribution by the UK and the EU, which stands at €250bn (£216bn).

“Russia has seen its second-largest oil client, India, hit with 50 per cent US tariffs, with 25 per cent imposed in an effort to convince Putin to respond to Trump’s ceasefire proposals. And if the US decided to open the taps of free military aid again, it could tip the tactical balance rapidly in Ukraine’s favour,” the IUK surmised.

Three WashPost regulators... lead author and assignment editor Damir Marusic, foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius and conservative Max Boot discussed prospects for tomorrow’s meeting at eight in the morning (August 14^th, ATTACHMENT SIX) and Ignatius expressed hope that Trump would “lean” (i.e. sanction) Putin; fear that he might simply listed to the dictator’s demands, consent and walk away. “If I had to guess, I’d opt for the fearful version.”

Boot also supported the fearful version; his vision being that his offer “to special envoy Steve Witkoff — demanding that Ukraine turn over unconquered, well-defended territory in the Donetsk region in return for a ceasefire — is a nonstarter for Ukraine.”

The optimist of the trio (sort of), editor Marusic, noted that Trump is “lowering expectations” and Boot chimed in with the precedent that Trump was “able to say no to a bad offer from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their last summit.” Ignatius, however, worried that “(o)ne way or another, I suspect Trump will want some drama” which neither the Russians nor Ukrainians want to be cluttering up their dispute.

“The danger for me seems to be that Trump is still in thrall to the idea that everyone just wants to make money,” was Marusic’s take on the upcoming meetings, For Boot, the problem is that Trump “thinks Putin wants to end the war. What Putin really wants is to win the war.”

Declaring that he didn’t like the TACO analogy which “just eggs Trump on” (a breakfast taco?) because his question was “how much he’s willing to risk to gain a peace in Ukraine that’s desperately important for Europe but,” in his view, “less so for the United States.”

That the risks to the United States are perhaps more than he believes, his answer that Trump is probably “not willing to risk much” is a rare, but unwanted case of Trumptastic restraint – popping up at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, was watching the drama “from the sidelines” as were his Euromob... seeming to say what everyone else “didn’t want to acknowledge: Putin does not want peace. He wants to occupy us completely.” (Time, August 14^th, ATTACHMENT SEVEN)

“We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “I think it's going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along. Maybe not.”

It’s the maybe not that has a lot of Ukraine’s allies on edge.

The Financial Times (Aug. 14, ATTACHMENT EIGHT) fingered a component of the crisis was the President’s appointment of second stringers, inexperienced diplomats and out-and-out partisan lunatics to serve as his envoys. “Negotiations with Moscow have so far been led by real estate developer Steve Witkoff,” FT’s Stephanie Stacey pointed out, “...while foreign policy veterans have often been sidelined and some forced out of their jobs.”

(After the debacle at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most phynancial professionals... including many on the right... called Djonald UnFocused’s choice of “Highly Respected Economist” EJ Antoni (a Project 2025 castoff) “incredible” – and not in a good way).

And his suggestion that Mad Vlad and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could “divvy things up” (things being Ukraine and its 40 million people) “may alarm some in Kyiv.” (GUK, August 14^th, ATTACHMENT NINE)

Putting on his lumberjack flannel shirt and boots and picking up his Elon Muskish chainsaw, Donnie declared: “I am president, and (Putin)’s not going to mess around with me.”

“I’ll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes or five minutes … whether or not we’re going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting. And if it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future.”

Trump also said a second meeting – not yet confirmed but allegedly starting at 11.30am local time (2030 BST) – between him, Putin and Zelenskyy would be the more decisive. “The Russian delegation will include the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov; the defence minister, Andrei Belousov; the finance minister, Anton Siluanov; the head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev; and Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov,” GUK’s Patrick Wintour advised... although Zelenskyy was booted from the conference and only Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov accompanied the Russian dictator to the summit.

Tagging along with Trump were Witkoff and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl).

“The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal. And I don’t want to use the word ‘divvy’ things up, but you know, to a certain extent, it’s not a bad term, OK?” Trump told Fox News Radio.

Putting nose and finger to the bad wind out of Washington, Zelenskyy has been doubling down on the Euros.

On Thursday British prime minister Keir Starmer “gave Zelenskyy a bear hug in the street outside the door to No 10 in a symbol of continuing British solidarity with the Ukrainian cause.”

GUK’s sometimes-colleague/sometimes competitors on the British left at the Independent (ATTACHMENT TEN) simply asked: “What is the world’s pain tolerance?” adding the Ukrainian question to that other war in the MidEast, the tariffs, the border and other issues.

FRIDAY

On Friday, GUK reported that Trump believed Putin ‘wants to get it done’ (ATTACHMENT ELEVEN) with “it” being another round of deals and distractions rather than simply conquering the breakaway nation, enslaving its people and exterminating dissenters – which will depend on whether Marco Rubio (and, by extension, Trump) can wrangle some “security guarantees” out of the Russians. (ATTACHMENT ELEVEN)

Also asked if he was ready to provide “economic incentives” to Russia to stop fighting in Ukraine, Trump declined to say, explaining he wouldn’t “want to play my hand in public.”

But he has repeatedly said that Russia had “a tremendous potential,” with value in “oil and gas, a very profitable business.”

Putin’s Alaskan entourage will allegedly include some of the most powerful figures in the Kremlin’s inner circle – “seasoned political operators, financial strategists and diplomatic enforcers who have shaped Russia’s foreign and economic policy for more than two decades.

“The mix of old-guard loyalists and younger financial power-brokers points to Putin’s aim of wooing Trump’s ear and dangling financial incentives for siding with Moscow on Ukraine.”

On August 15^th at 3:43 PM, Fox reported that the Trump – Putin meeting had started minutes ago (ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN) with Foxy reporter Caitlin McFall stating that it was expected to last “several hours, with initial estimates ranging roughly four hours, though the Kremlin on Friday signaled the talks could last up to seven hours.”

Trump and his reported posse... Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also made the roughly 8-hour journey to Anchorage for "expanded bilateral" discussions and a "working lunch" but only Witkoff and Rubio were allowed into the meeting chamber alongside Trump, while Putin was expected to be accompanied by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov was also reported to have made the roughly eight-and-a-half-hour flight, but it was “unclear if he (would) be sitting in on the meeting with Putin and Trump,” wrote McFall – who paid special attention to the money shots. Questions “mounted” over whether Washington would forge a minerals deal with Moscow; the President telling reporters he would “wait to see how the talks play out before he would say if he may pursue a mining agreement (regarding Ukraine’s presumably confiscated mineral wealth) – the optics of which remained unclear as they would “potentially benefit Russia’s economy, and therefore Putin’s war chest.” 

A separate Fox conjecture by Morgan Phillips an hour later (ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN) looked back to the President’s chat with Foxman Bret Baier during his flight to Alaska to the extent that he wouldn’t be “happy” if “he (did) not walk away from his meeting with President Vladimir Putin with a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine,” and while he acknowledged that details might require a second meeting, the President said “he might cancel talks entirely if Friday’s summit (did) not go well.”

Trump also added that he "may have to start liking" Hillary Clinton, after the former Democratic presidential candidate said she would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he negotiated a peace deal and did not "capitulate" to Russia. 

"That was very nice. I may have to start liking her again," Trump said. 

The Russian news agency TASS, an hour into the meeting, reported on how the conversant arrived in Alaska “nearly simultaneously”, entered Trump’s Cadillac limousine, “where they talked one-on-one on the way to the talks,” as Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and leader of the LDPR, reminded the world that Russia and the US were “two leading nuclear powers: the nature of their interaction largely determines stability and global security.”

A gaggle of German gobblers honked and hawked their contentions that the meet and greet would be evidence that Europeans “are in a better place than they were with Trump earlier in the year," DW’s Chief International Editor Richard Walker said (also referencing the possibility of lucrative trade deals between Russia, the U.S. and E.U. (DW, ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN)

Ahead of the talks, Reuters reported (ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN), Trump greeted the Russian leader on a red carpet on the tarmac at a U.S. Air Force base. The two shook hands warmly and touched each other on the arm before riding in Trump's limo to the summit site nearby with plenty of military security on hand to dispel concerns about whether lurking, skulking agents of the International Criminal Court might pop up and snatch the dictator (accused of war crimes for deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, among other iniquities).

The final three-on-three roster consisted of Trump, Witkoff and Marco for the Americans; foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov guarding their dictator’s backside. SecPress Karoline Leavitt also reported that more aides, administrators and cabinet curiosities on both sides would manifest for the “subsequent larger, bilateral meeting” which, however, did not manifest.

Money also spoke to Reuters, as a previous report on the prospect of using Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker vessels “to support the development of gas and LNG projects in Alaska as one of the possible deals to aim for” with nary a notion that allowing nukin’ Putin’s navy to prowl America’s coastline might be unwise, even if it was in the service of high phynance.

Trump had said before the summit that there was mutual respect between him and Putin.

"He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time, but so have I ... We get along," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring businesspeople to Alaska.

"But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly.

SATURDAY

And then the yak yak was over between the leaders, and the autopsies spilled forth in American and global print, broadcast and social media – much of it blatantly partisan.

“Trump (treated the) war criminal dictator Putin like royalty,” the liberal Huffington Post reported, but still failed to get a ceasefire. (ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN)

“There’s no deal until there is a deal,” Trump said at a joint appearance with Putin “at the end of three hours of discussions at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, just outside Anchorage, Alaska.”

Allowing the dictator to speak first... a courtesy that would bounce back to haunt Djonald in later dispatches from the left and right-wing tabloiders... the HuffPost reported that Putin spoke for nine minutes, “spending much of the time explaining Russian and American cooperation during World War II, the geographic proximity of Alaska and eastern Russia and how nice it was to have Trump as president again.

“He said he was grateful that Trump was not as difficult to deal with as his predecessor, Joe Biden, and that he seemed more receptive to hearing Putin’s side of the story regarding his 2022 invasion of Ukraine.”

POTUS only spoke for four minutes... mostly airing old grievances about the investigation into the help he received from Putin in winning the 2016 election — which Trump has for years falsely called a “hoax.”

“We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. That made it tougher to deal with, but he understood it. I think he’s probably seen things like that during the course of his career,” Trump said. “He’s seen it all, but we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax, but what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country in terms of the business and all of the things that would like to have dealt with.”

At the end of his diatribe, both men walked out of the room leaving the media, honest and/or hoaxly vainly shouting for illumination – Putin only telling the American: “Next time, in Moscow.”

Other liberals at Mother Jones (ATTACHMENT NINETEEN) reported that, with the prospect of a cease-fire failing, Trump had raised the stakes... now calling for a climactic, dramatic peace treaty (specifics to be determined, but with the Euros and, especially, Ukrainians apprehensive).

“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” he subsequently posted on Truth Social.

The President also spoke to a handful of flatterish followers like Sean Hannity (expostulating further on the “Russia Russia Russia hoax”).

Time’s Nik Popli and Brian Bennett radiated disappointment that Prump and Tootin’ had walked out on the press in Alaska after ending earlier than expected “and on a deflated note for the U.S., with no concrete steps reached toward a ceasefire.”

So they dug into the break with tradition on speaking order... stating that typically, at such summits, the host speaks first and welcomes the visiting leader. “But when the two leaders stepped up to the twin lecterns, Trump put his hand out to indicate Putin should speak first”, after which Putin then held the floor for eight minutes, but saying only that the negotiations had been held in a “constructive atmosphere of mutual respect.” He also flattered Trump by saying he agreed with Trump’s repeated assertion “that if Trump had remained President for a second term, Putin would not have rolled tanks into Ukraine’s capital Kiev.

“We have built a very good and businesslike and trustworthy contact and have every reason to believe that moving down this path we can come to the end of the conflict in Ukraine,” Putin said. But he gave no details on how that would happen and, said the Timekeepers, “appeared to warn European leaders and Zelensky to stay out of the way of what was a work-in-progress.”

Just before Trump and Putin arrived in Alaska, Zelensky said in a video statement posted on social media that Russian military strikes were continuing throughout Ukraine on Friday, and called for a follow-up meeting in the future with all three leaders. “On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well,” he said. “And that speaks volumes.”

With the summit settled... all smiles, no deals... German chancellor Friedrich Merz told the ZDF public broadcaster that at least the Americans would be “part of (the) security guarantees for Ukraine.” (Guardian U.K. ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE)

Trump’s debriefing to European leaders after the Alaska summit with Putin included discussions about security guarantees for Ukraine, which is outside NATO. Citing “a source familiar with the matter” Reuters said that the guarantees would be equivalent to article 5, “which states that if a Nato ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this as an armed attack against all members” and the European Commission reportedly pledged that a “coalition coalition of the willing” was ready to play an active role (up to and perhaps including boots on the ground).

“No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries,” the EC added; Russia “cannot have a veto against Ukraine’s pathway to EU and Nato. It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.”

Several European leaders spoke in support of Trump; U.K. PM Starmer praising “President Trump’s efforts (which) have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” and Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavský’s contention that he was “glad that President Trump is trying to stop the war” despite Putin’s “propagandistic nonsense” about the “roots of the conflict.”

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, warned that the battle for Ukraine’s future and European security has reached a “decisive phase” as he urged the west to maintain unity in its opposition to  Putin, who he labelled a “cunning and ruthless player”.

GUK also published remarks from the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, French president, Emmanuel Macron and Randhir Jaiswal (a spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry) – all praising the peace process.

And the Agence France-Presse solicited opinions from ordinary Ukrainians to get their view of the summit, and it was fair to say they were “pretty unimpressed”.

But pro-Moscow Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, asked in a recorded statement on Facebook whether “the unsuccessful European strategy of trying to weaken Russia through this conflict with all kinds of literally incredible financial, political or military assistance to Kyiv will continue.”

And Russia’s reaction to Donald Trump’s summit with in Alaska has been “nothing short of jubilant”, with Moscow “celebrating the fact that the Russian leader met his US counterpart without making concessions and now faces no sanctions despite rejecting Trump’s ceasefire demands.”

“The meeting proved that negotiations are possible without preconditions,” wrote former president Dmitry Medvedev on Telegram. He added that the summit showed that talks could continue as Russia wages war in Ukraine.

For his part, Trump sent another fundraising email to supporters where he mentioned meeting with Putin in Alaska on Saturday, according to NBC News reports.

“I met with Putin in Alaska yesterday! After my meeting with him, I need you to answer just one question … Do you still stand with Donald Trump?” the email said.

This comes after Trump’s campaign sent an email seeking donations on Friday, ahead of the Alaska summit.

Yesterday’s email read: “I’m meeting with Putin in Alaska! It’s a little chilly. THIS MEETING IS VERY HIGH STAKES for the world. The Democrats would love nothing more than for ME TO FAIL. No one in the world knows how to make deals like me!”

“I just don’t think we heard anything that signaled any sort of shift in Russia’s maximal position,” said David Salvo, a former State Department official who served in Russia.  (USA Today, ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO)

He cast Putin’s comments as “grandstanding” and said of security guarantees for Ukraine, “I don’t think he’s ready to soften his position quite yet.”

Putin also jabbed at former President Joe Biden and said he agreed with Trump’s assertions that the war never would have happened if the Republican had won in 2020.

Trump said Putin’s comments were “very profound.” He described the meeting as “extremely productive” and said the two sides agreed on “many points” without divulging the details. 

One of these, Putin teased Trump’s obsession with making money, was that: “Russia and the U.S. can offer each other so much in trade, digital, high tech and in space exploration. We see that Arctic cooperation (i.e. drill, baby, drill!) is also very possible.”

And although he’d warned before the meeting that if Putin wasn’t cooperative, he would face “severe consequences” and threatened tariff hikes on Russia’s top trading partners, for now, he said he was letting China off the hook.

“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that,” Trump told Hannity (above).

The Hill (August 15^th, 9:58 PM) specified five takeaways from the summit,

“No deal on ceasefire but ‘progress’ made...” 

Trump at the press conference would only tease the fact that the two leaders had a “productive meeting” and said they agreed on some things, but not others – without offering any details of what was discussed.

“Trump gives Putin red-carpet treatment...”

Literally – after Air Force One and Putin’s presidential plane arrived, the two politicians tread the threads on into Trump’s armored presidential limousine, known as the beast. Putin was seen laughing with Trump in the back seat as the motorcade drove away from the tarmac. 

“Much remains a mystery...”

Despite the talk of progress on both sides, neither Trump nor Putin offered any indication of how Russia and Ukraine had moved closer to a peace deal. 

And the press conference ended before reporters could try to fill in the blanks.

“Carefully choreographed around ‘peace’...”

Friday’s meeting was carefully choreographed to bolster Trump’s image as a peacemaker. Both the backdrop of the meeting and the press conference were emblazoned with the words “Pursuing Peace.”

The White House this week touted Nobel Peace Prize endorsements from various world leaders, including the heads of state from Israel, Cambodia, Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan — all of whom were involved in conflicts that Trump helped end. 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday said she’d nominate Trump for the Nobel Prize if he managed to broker peace in Ukraine without giving Russia Ukrainian territory. 

However, Trump has been unable to halt the war in Ukraine or two of the world’s other major wars: Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, where mass starvation is taking hold, or the brutal civil war in Sudan. 

“Trump to call Zelensky, world leaders...”

Trump said he planned to call Zelensky and NATO allies following the meeting, adding that he also expected to speak again to Putin soon. 

Mission accomplished – though results still up in the air.

And Fox (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR) submitted ten more takeaways from Trump’s post-summit interview on the Hannity show:

1. ‘No deal until there’s a deal’

2. Putin ‘wants to see it done’

3. Not prepared to share what the sticking point was

4. Up to Zelenskyy and Europe

5. Trump open to trilateral meeting

6. Meeting a ‘10’

7. Russia respects America now

8. No war if Trump was in office

9. Advice to Zelenskyy – “make a deal”

10. 2020 election rigged – Trump saying "you can’t have a great democracy with mail-in voting,” and then, today, addressing the issue by banning vote-by-mail... potentially disenfranchising of poor, rural, minority and disabled voters and (a glitch which may bounce back against him) active duty military serving overseas! 

More takeaways from Axios (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE) included coverage of what (authorities surmised) happened behind closed doors and the downsizing of the summit to a "feel-out meeting" plus the upsizing of the cease-fire to a peace treaty...”a concrete objective — and one Putin has repeatedly rebuffed up to now.”

TIMEly Richard Stengel, a former editor now an “analyst” for MSNBC (also, yesterday, yanked out of existence and renamed MS-NOW) said that Trump and Putin got the show they wanted... screaming jets overhead, flapping flags “and then the two protagonists walking down a skinny red carpet like the end of a buddy movie” to the President’s Beast. (ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX)

Trump is likely happy because the eyes of the world are upon him and he was executive producing the images on the world’s television screens. (And no one was talking about Jeffrey Epstein). Putin is happy because a Russian president is always happy when they are treated as equal to American presidents. (And no one arrested him for war crimes).

But the “self-professed world’s greatest dealmaker” left without a deal. He did, however, get in several references to the “Russia hoax,” while Vlad smirked.

The truth is, Stengel (who interviewed Bad Vlad in 2006 when he called the disintegration of the Soviet Union “the greatest tragedy of the 20^th century”) contending that Trump needed a deal more than Putin did. “Deals are what I do,” he said, and he didn’t do one.

Comparing Djonald UnDealt with past idealists like Woodrow Wilson and realists like Henry Kissinger, Mister Stengel said, simply: “Trump stands for himself. Putin stands for Russia. Putin’s goals are unchanging; his smile and his handshake are fleeting.”

“Russia has a 50-year goal,” Stengel concluded with perhaps some unjustified modesty “to re-unite parts of the old Soviet Union” (or, more likely, all of it, all its former satellites, all of Europe and, then, all of the world); Ukraine has a more immediate goal, to stop the war and not give up any territory to do so.

Putin was the “big winner” because he didn't have to compromise before or after the meeting. “Zelensky won by not losing. Ukraine could have been crippled today, and instead they live to fight another day.

“It’s true that no deal is better than a bad deal. But what is the Dealmaker-in-Chief without a deal?”

Ukrainian exiles in the United States might have a word for that, but since the machines we use have neither a tolerance for profanity nor an inclusion of Ukrainian in their translation indices, we’ll just let a USA Today survey of their reactions (ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN) resort to a few pungent but publishable substitutes... “speechless”, “disappointed” and, according to V. V. (a respiratory therapist in California) “...even worse than I thought."

Another exile turned returnee to Lviv, C. (whose wife and daughter are safely in the U.S.A.) hopes a two way or three way meeting including Zelenskyy will lead to an end of the war.

"But if Putin refuses to meet with Zelenskyy, then what?" said Chemes, who is back in Ukraine in case he has to serve in the military. "What happens next?"  

Two other Ukrainian-born teenagers, K. and G. (who lives in Kharkiv), wonder how younger siblings will deal with the constant bombings. "My brother is going to study underground, with no sunlight, with no possibility to play outside, to run freely over a football pitch or hear the birds singing."

She said her mother keeps all of the family documents near the front door, just in case they need to leave their house forever. "That’s how the war looks for me and my family," she said.

"After all, you never know what tomorrow holds and whether it will come at all," said K., who lives in Chernivtsi.

"Of course, I can talk about building a career and a family, but for me, these are the components of the happiness I strive for. First and foremost, free people in a free country. In a free Ukraine."

In Zaporizhzhia, long a target of Russian drone and missile strikes, there is less hope, more anger – although some are so tired of the sleepness nights they are ready for Kyiv to sign a peace deal, “even an imperfect one, if it means the attacks will stop.”

But many others have a very different opinion “because they know first-hand what it means to give Russia control over Ukrainian territory: arrests, disappearances and the erasure of anything Ukrainian.” (Guardian U.K. ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT)

Apparently on the agenda at the summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska was a proposal that goes even further: Putin has reportedly pitching the idea that Ukraine should give up the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions it still holds, “possibly in exchange for small parts of Kharkiv and Sumy regions held by Russia and the promise of a ceasefire – in essence, to swap Ukrainian land for other Ukrainian land,” GUK reported.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out the idea that the Ukrainian army would simply walk out of some territories and leave the population to Russian rule. But Trump has suggested it is a good idea, talking of land swaps as though they are an easy and fair solution.

“There’ll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody. To the good, for the good of Ukraine. Good stuff, not bad stuff. Also, some bad stuff for both.”

Time and again, journalists, diplomats and influencers have harped on the land swapping or handovers without mentioning that people will also be handed over to Putin’s deadly whims.

GUK, at least (and like Melania Trump, of all people!) recognizes that, in most of the discussions over a peace settlement in the Ukraine conflict, “the fate of people has appeared to be afterthought, secondary to questions of land, military and security issues. The casual talk of land swaps has taken this even further.”

Russia’s blueprint for what happens to conquered or betrayed human beings in occupied areas has been constant, GUK says: “it uses a mix of incentive and coercion to gain cooperation from local dignitaries. A minority of people welcome Russian rule and are happy to collaborate, others do so under pressure, while those who refuse are kicked out or arrested.”

Or, if they are children, rounded up and sent off to vodka-swilling Jeffrey Epsteinoviches in the Motherland, there to endure unimaginable tortures after which death is welcomed.

“Every day there are new, similar stories as occupation ruins lives and splits up families,” GUK reports. “Many of those who resisted in the early days are still lost in Russia’s network of torture facilities and prisons for Ukrainian detainees.”

Those who have left or been forced out of occupied regions have been replaced by new arrivals from Russia. “The Russians have brought in a huge number of people,” said the regional governor, Ivan Fedorov. “Some of them are pensioners from icy parts of Russia who are lured with the promise of a better climate; others are police, prosecutors, teachers and other functionaries who are brought in to prop up the occupation regime.

“Their main goal is to change the gene pool of our towns,” Fedorov said.

The New York Times, in a series of takeaways by various Gothamites after the summit (August 15, 5:00 PM ET, ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE) but on the day before President Zelenskyy arrived in Washington to plead his (and his people’s) case wrote that Djonald DisInterested... ignoring even the appeal Melania was making to Putin... was backing the dictator’s plan for a sweeping “peace agreement” based on Ukraine ceding territory it controls to Russia, instead of the urgent “cease-fire” Mr. Trump had said he wanted before the meeting.

Skipping cease-fire discussions is a sop to Russia, and “breaks from a strategy Mr. Trump and European allies, as well as Mr. Zelensky, had agreed to before the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska.”

In return for the land and people of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops, “Mr. Putin offered a cease-fire in the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines” and, apparently a deal clincher, his “written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again,” the senior European officials said. “He has broken similar promises before,” the Times rationalized.

An ever optimistic (gullible?) Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada praised President Trump for “creating the opportunity to end Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” and agreeing to provide security guarantees to Ukraine after a peace deal

Putin’s “pervoprichiny”, a creepily Epstein-ish translation of “root causes” has become shorthand for the Russian president’s unwavering vision of (a re-colonized) Ukraine’s future.

“We are convinced that for the Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-lasting, all root causes of the crisis must be eliminated,” Mr. Putin said on Friday in Alaska, without elaborating.

The Times called Putin’s “pervo” a concoction of Mr. Putin’s grievances over Ukraine’s political and historical choices that is hard to parse even for Eastern European experts but at its heart,” the Times opined, “is Mr. Putins fixation with NATO’s expansion after the Cold War ended into what he believes should be Russia’s sphere of influence, and his desire to have a pliable, pro-Russia government in Kyiv.” Or, better yet, a Russian government. Or, even better, a depopulated wasteland to serve as an example to the un-Russian countries and peoples of the world.

“Surrender, Dorothy!” goes a line from a famous old movie about witches and wizards, dwarves and flying monkeys (as calls to mind Sad Vlad’s complaint that Westerners regard Russians as monkeys – Attachment 26, above).

Eight Baltic and Nordic countries, including NATO’s newest members, Finland and Sweden, at least, “declared in a unified statement on Saturday that they would continue to arm Ukraine and bolster their own defenses in the face of Russian aggression,” a defiance further likely to enrage Putin into scowling and howling more threats (and calling up more and more Russians to toss into the “meat grinder” to its south).

“No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces nor should Russia have any say in whether Ukraine joins NATO or the European Union”, the Baltic and Nordic statement said, dismissing Putin’s central demands.

And no rockets or drones have yet flown out of their cages to strike at Stockholm or Helsinki.

Putin is perhaps satisfied, for the present, that... as said Ivo Daalder, who was ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama, Trump “got played again.

“For all the promises of a cease-fire, of severe economic consequences, of being disappointed, it took two minutes on the red carpet and 10 minutes in the Beast for Putin to play Trump again. What a sad spectacle.”

Mr. Putin’s conditions for a long-term peace agreement “are so expansive that Ukrainian and European leaders are unlikely to go along,” the Times voiced discreetly.

“We are convinced that in order for the Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, all the pervo (root causes) of the crisis, which have been discussed repeatedly, must be eliminated; all of Russia’s legitimate concerns must be taken into account; and a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole must be restored,” Mr. Putin said in Alaska.

“In the past,” the Times recalled, “Mr. Putin has insisted that a comprehensive peace agreement require NATO to pull forces back to its pre-expansion 1997 borders, bar Ukraine from joining the alliance and require Kyiv to not only give up territory in the east but shrink its military. In effect, Mr. Putin aims to reestablish Moscow’s sphere of influence not only in former Soviet territory but to some extent further in Eastern Europe.”

And then?

Some critics compared Alaska to the 1938 conference in Munich, “when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Britain surrendered part of Czechoslovakia to Germany’s Adolf Hitler as part of a policy of appeasement.”

Even former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, whom the Times once considered the Trump of London, “called the Alaska summit meeting “just about the most vomit-inducing episode in all the tawdry history of international diplomacy.”

Kallas (above) simply stated that Bad Vlad only wanted to “drag out negotiations while making no commitment to stop the killing.

“The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,” she said.

But another publicity bitch, Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister (who has an amiable rapport with Mr. Trump), said there was a “glimmer of hope” for efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Seizing a little credit for herself, she said Mr. Trump “took up the Italian idea of security guarantees inspired by Article 5 of NATO.” Under this idea, she said, Ukraine would not become part of NATO, but “a collective security clause” would allow it “to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the U.S., ready to take action if it is attacked again.”

Furtherly watered down, this resulted in “Article 5 – like” gaslighting... a luminosity as would play a far more risibly visible role in the fake dialog as would be propounded over the next few days.

So Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Ukrainian Parliament, had initially expressed some relief, in another of the Times’ August 16^th takeaways, saying that “the situation could have been worse” if Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin had struck a deal behind Ukraine’s back.

He said that a scenario in which “Trump and Putin started together to pressure Ukraine into surrender” could not have been ruled out given Mr. Trump’s history of deference to Mr. Putin.

But after Mr. Trump’s post on Truth Social, Mr. Merezhko changed his view. “In fact, Putin and Trump are starting to force us into surrender,” he said.

“Which countries will agree to consider an attack against Ukraine as an attack against themselves?” Mr. Merezhko asked. “I’d like to believe that we will find such countries, but I’m not sure.”

In the end, according to Vanessa Friedman, there was no deal, but there was a photo op: “a dramatic, well-choreographed image of President Trump not just welcoming President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to Alaska on Friday, but rolling out the red carpet, that now-universal symbol of fame, pageantry and pomp.”

In the absence of an actual resolution to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, those snapshots have become the takeaway. And that, said both President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, even before the meeting, was Mr. Putin’s goal in the first place.

“He is seeking, excuse me, photos,” Zelensky said. “He needs a photo from the meeting with President Trump.”

Why? Ms. Friedman asked... “(b)ecause whatever happened afterward, a photo could be publicly seen — and read — as an implicit endorsement.

“And of all current world leaders, the only one who understands, and embraces, the power of the image quite as effectively as Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin. Both men have made themselves into caricatures through costume and scenography, the better to capture the popular imagination.

“Mr. Trump has done it with his MAGA merch, his red-white-and-blue dressing (the one regularly adopted by members of his cabinet as well as Republicans in Congress), his hair and his showmanship.

“Mr. Putin has done it with his orchestrated photo shoots: the ones that capture him braving the snow in Siberia, hugging a polar bear, hunting shirtless. They may look silly (at least from outside) but that doesn’t make them any less effective. Or headline-grabbing.

“That Mr. Putin met Mr. Trump in the uniform Mr. Trump embraces made its own kind of statement. The conflict in Ukraine has been in part a battle fought in images for the support of the global imagination; that is why Mr. Zelensky insists on dressing to show solidarity with his fighting forces whenever he speaks to international bodies, be they Congress or the European Union; why his wife posed for the cover of Vogue.

“By wearing his suit and tie in Alaska, Mr. Putin cast himself as Mr. Trump’s equal and drew another line between himself and Z-Man, who famously offended Mr. Trump by wearing his army look to the White House.”

So Zelensky would slapped back by wearing a snazzy suit as drew oohs and news from noisemakers – as will be considered in more detail in Part Two, next week.

In addition to land (and people), Manhattanite Steven Erlanger added a few of Putin’s subsequent demands... over and below the NATO nyet – “guarantees for Russian to become an official language again in Ukraine, security for Russian Orthodox churches and, by implication, removal of Zelenskyy and his supporters.

While Bad Vlad, so far, has urinated over Trump’s hopes of getting a trilateral meeting with Mr. Zelensky inasmuch as Mr. Putin has so far refused to meet with Mr. Zelensky, considering him “an illegitimate president of an artificial country,” Trump has continued to promote Himself as a master dealmaker and peacekeeper.

“I think the meeting was a 10,” Mr. Trump said after Mr. Hannity asked how he would rate his talks with the Russian president. “In the sense we got along great, and it’s good when two big powers get along, especially when they’re nuclear powers. We’re No. 1 and they’re No. 2 in the world.”

“Now it is really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” he said during the interview, which was broadcast later on Fox News. “I would also say the European nations have to get involved a little bit.”

Reporters from the Independent U.K. (ATTACHMENT THIRTY) floated a “reality” that Ukraine will lose territory in a peace agreement has been accepted by Zelensky in recent months based on statements by the mayor of Kyiv (and former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko), conceding Friday that Ukraine may have to “give up territory” (and, of course, people) as “a temporary solution towards peace.

“One of the scenarios is… to give up territory. It's not fair. But for the peace, temporary peace, maybe it can be a solution, temporary,” Klitschko told the BBC.

While the Russian dictator blocked blows from Klitschko, he was less successful in swatting away those pesky scriveners from the decadent Western media, who “clamored to ask him questions” as he attempted to escape from the summit in Alaska (Fox, ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE) and, when cornered with no other way out, he borrowed a page from the Trumpian playbook and blamed the war and any lack of progress thereafter on Joe Biden.

He told the Trump – friendly New York Post that he would like to remind them that in 2022, during his last contact with the previous administration that he’d “tried to convince my previous American colleague the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,” Putin said following his meeting with Trump. “And I said it quite directly back then.”

Trained in strategic communications during his time as a KGB agent for the Soviet Union (ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO), Putin is known “for attempting to manipulate world leaders with flattery” as well as gunplay.

While he called Putin’s nine-minute pre-written speech “profound,” Trump did not mention his longstanding talking point after the Russian leader’s assertion – the Post posted – focusing, instead on the prospect of he and the Russians making money after the war ends.

“We … have some tremendous Russian business representatives here, and I think everybody wants to deal with us. We’ve become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time,” he said – perhaps looking fondly back on his Alaskan escapades as wildfires raged south in California and east in Canada and heat indices throughout the BosWash corridor reached the triple digits. “We look forward to dealing — we’re going to try and get this over with.

“… We’ll have a good chance when this is over.”

A problem... at least to Putin... commandeered a solution from America.

Behind closed doors, Putin blamed mail-in voting for Trump’s 2020 election loss, the president revealed on “Hannity.”

“You know, Vladimir Putin said something, one of the most interesting things: He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” he said. “He said, ‘No country has mail-in voting. It’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.’

“‘You won that election by so much,’” Putin told the president, according to Trump, “‘You lost it because of mail-in voting.’”

Today, perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, Trump promised to end vote-by-mail in the United States, thereby disenfranchising millions of Americans whom he doesn’t like and, as noted above in Attachment Twenty Four, some (military serving overseas) who might be... troublesome? Yes, probably.

The National Review, perhaps assuming that Putin’s dictatorial bent implied a neo-Communist bias (despite Russian military expenditures making Vladdy’s needy government greedy at the prospect of wealth without sanctions) rejected Trump’s MAGA brand of conservatism, calling the enthusiasm, whether real, feigned, or a bit of both, with which Donald Trump greeted Vladimir Putin in Alaska “a nauseating contrast with the horrors of daily life in Ukraine.”

Could the billionaire boys’ favorite tax-slasher be losing his grip on the donor class?

“In a just world, Ukraine would regain the territory stolen from it since 2014, receive massive reparations from Russia, and be admitted to NATO,” the Buckley Boys scolded. “But Russia will not give up its ill-gotten gains any time soon, whether by force or voluntarily, and it is likely to be years, if ever, before Ukraine will be able to join NATO...” leading the NR, however gingerly to admit that if it takes some “New York City realtor–style schmooze” to preserve the independence of “the 80 percent of Ukraine that remains under Kyiv’s control,” well, as they noted in their opening sentence, the optics (and odors) of diplomacy “are often not for the squeamish.” (ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE)

Trumpeting the land, tradition and a united West (which has generated substantial disapproval of Our President from an otherwise sympathetic corridor) the NatReview reiterated its views that, in exchange for a durable armistice, “Russia can be handed concessions, however undeserved, above all in the form of the de facto acceptance of its control of the territory that Moscow has seized since 2014 (de jure recognition should remain off the menu unless granted by Ukraine), but also the gradual relaxation of sanctions.”

The people? Again, as with pontifications from the left, right and other... they are, as the ubiquitous American cop shows say, “collateral damage.”

The Presidential pivots... there are at least a half a dozen of them this year... “got a chilly reception in Europe, where leaders have time and again seen Mr. Trump reverse positions on Ukraine after speaking with Mr. Putin,” the New York Times updated its last updates. (ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR)

Ukraine, at last, garnered the support of Canadian PM Carney – for what that is or will be worth. More Times takeaways included reiteration of the origins and implications of “pervoprichiny” (Attachment Twenty Nine, above) and Italian PM Meloni’s NATO Article Five security guarantees (implementable without Ukraine actually joining NATO), as well as U.K. Starmer’s promise of “robust” security guarantees.

The foreign press, having scrutinized the news out of Alaska, has begun to throw down judgements – and most of them are negative.

Al Jazeera (ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE) reported that both Trump and Putin were delighted with their summit as were most Russians, many Americans and some Europeans – but President Zelenskyy, while speaking cautiously about Alaska as he prepares to come to America Monday to prepare for a bi- or tri-lateral followup uh... someday... reiterated that security and territorial issues cannot be settled without Ukraine.

Jazzy Charles Stratford, reporting from Kyiv, said Trump has been heavily criticised by the US media over the meeting in Alaska.

“They are concerned about what has been described as far more of a conciliatory tone by Trump towards Putin without coming out of that meeting with even a ceasefire,” he said.

And EU leaders, including the French and Germans said that security guarantees in the event of any territorial surrender will have to be “ironclad” (for the rest of the land, however, not the people).

“The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden said in a statement that achieving peace between Ukraine and Russia requires a ceasefire (categorically rejected by Russia) and (unspecified) security guarantees for Ukraine.

On the battlefield, Russian troops have been slowly but steadily advancing – closing in on the strategic town of Pokrovsk, and seizing the village of Yablunivka and the settlement of Oleksandrohrad. Other recent Russian captures were noted.

The Hindustan Times, which called the summit “a chance to restart talks over Ukraine, where Russia’s invasion has caused immense human suffering and civilian deaths” but, instead, “ended in confusion Friday,” with Fox News calling the summit “awkward, poorly managed, and politically lopsided.”

Clearly angered by the disrespect Trump and Putin displayed towards the assembled journalistic mob, Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich raised the distraditional deference shown in allowing Putin to speak first, forcing the poor pressthings to listen to him “rattle off the diatribe about the history of the U.S. and Russia,” she said.

Another Indian tabloid, Ommcomm, quoted Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in her Telegram channel, commenting on the meeting of the leaders of the two countries in Alaska, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS. (ATTACHMENT THIRTY SEVEN)

“Western media are in a state that can be called insanity, bordering on complete madness: for three years they talked about Russia’s isolation, and today they saw the red carpet that greeted the Russian President in the United States,” Zakharova emphasized.

TASS also found an outlet in the Phillipine News Agency which published remarks from Putin including the flatterish (“Our talks took place in a trustful and constructive atmosphere and were quite substantive and useful.") to rueful (“Russia and the US have not held summits for over four years” during which time bilateral relations “fell to their lowest since the Cold War, which benefits neither our countries nor the world in general.") (ATTACHMENT THIRTY EIGHT)

Putin also told his homies that, during my last contact with the previous (US) administration in 2022, “I tried to convince my then American counterpart that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return, where it would come to hostilities.”

And another pro-Putin paper, Belta from Belarus, interviewed Ushakov (above) who... asked when, where or even if another meeting between Putin and Trump (and maybe, also, Zelenskyy) might occur, Ushakov said, frankly: “I don't know yet” – adding that “(t)he U.S. president said he would call his counterparts and discuss the results of these talks with them.” Then, Ushakov said, “we'll decide how to proceed.” (ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE)

Three men from Reuters spoke and shared opinions to the effect that Trump told President Zelenskyy that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big power, and (you're) not."

Trump also said he agreed with Putin that was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up," Trump posted on Truth Social. (ATTACHMENT FORTY)

“For Putin, just sitting down with Trump represented a victory. He had been ostracised by Western leaders since the start of the war, and just a week earlier had faced a threat of new sanctions from Trump.”

And there was business to be discussed.

Trump told Fox he would postpone imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, but he might have to "think about it" in two or three weeks.

He ended his remarks after the summit by telling Putin: "We'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon."

"Next time in Moscow," a smiling Putin responded in English.

Reporting on the potential of a two or three way meeting between the potentates, France 24 quoted Zelenskyy who stated that not only he, himself, but the larger European community deserved their place at the table. “It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America,” he said. (ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE)

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the summit confirmed that “while the US and its allies are looking for ways to peace, Putin is still only interested in making the greatest possible territorial gains and restoring the Soviet empire”.

“Vladimir Putin came to the Alaska summit with the principal goal of stalling any pressure on Russia to end the war,” said Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. “He will consider the summit outcome as mission accomplished.”

Russian attacks on Ukraine continued overnight, using one ballistic missile and 85 Shahed drones, 61 of which were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said. Front-line areas of Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Chernihiv were attacked.

Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences shot down 29 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Sea of Azov overnight.

As for China, Fox warned that 'if aggression pays in Europe, deterrence discounts in Asia'. (Fox, ATTACHMENT FORTY TWO)

"Since China acts as a consistent supporter and enabler of Russia, of course they are watching the talks regarding Ukraine very closely," Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė told Fox News Digital during her trip to Washington, D.C., this week.

"Any concession would no doubt serve as an incentive for the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to undertake a hostile path in the Indo-Pacific as the risk of dire consequences would be perceived as significantly lower." 

“But there also remains speculation over whether the president will look to cut his own deal with Russia, namely in the field of critical minerals, with Trump looking to counter Chinese competition.”

The optics of Trump cutting a business deal with Russia while Putin refuses to end his deadly ambitions in Ukraine could be seen as aiding Moscow’s war chest and could further signal to Chinese President Xi Jinping that Trump values "deals over deterrence," one East Asian geopolitical strategy expert warned.

"Beijing will read any permissive deal as expanding latitude for gray-zone pressure on Taiwan, which could strain allied trust in perceived U.S. red lines," Craig Singleton, China Program senior director and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.  

"If Washington is perceived as ‘selling out’ Ukraine, Beijing will learn a simple lesson: Coercion pays and costs are containable," Singleton added.

At the joint press conference immediately following the summit, where Mr. Trump said “There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” the Russian leader offered a more optimistic view of the meeting. (Washington Times, ATTACHMENT FORTY THREE)

“As I’ve said, the situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security. Moreover, we’ve always considered the Ukrainian nation, and I’ve said it multiple times, a brotherly nation,” Mr. Putin said. “However strange it may sound in these conditions, we have the same roots, and everything that’s happening is a tragedy for us and a terrible wound.”

Despite Trump’s claim to have made “a lot of progress” and that the summit was a “10 out of 10,” all signs point to a huge win for the Russian autocrat, according to CNN (ATTACHMENT FORTY FOUR).

“Trump’s lavish stage production of Putin’s arrival Friday, with near-simultaneous exits from presidential jets and red-carpet strolls, provided some image rehabilitation for a leader who is a pariah in the rest of the West and who is accused of war crimes in Ukraine.”

And by the end of their meeting, “Trump had offered a massive concession to his visitor by adopting the Russian position that peace moves should concentrate on a final peace deal — which will likely take months or years to negotiate — rather than a ceasefire to halt the Russian offensive now.”

The only good news for Ukraine and the Euros was that Trump did not go all the way and give away land and people without the presence or consent of the Ukrainians. But few outside of Putin’s orbit were mollified.

Trump also backed away from threats to impose tough new sanctions on Russia and expand secondary sanctions on the nations that buy its oil and therefore bankroll its war – notably China and India.

Takeaways from the summit plucked from the hoopla by CNN’s Stephen Collinson included Trump’s leaving open the possibility of sticks rather than carrots in his Fox News interview, saying: “I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”

“Another possibility is that Trump simply gets discouraged or bored with the details and drudgery of a long-term peace process that lacks big, quick wins he can celebrate with his supporters.

“A large part of (Trump) is all about style. There’s not a lot of real enjoyment of getting into the substance of things,” Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy who is now affiliated with the Center for New American Security, said before the summit. “He likes the meringue on top. And I think that’s how you can be manipulated.”

Trump also told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he was “so happy” to hear validation from Putin and that the Russian leader had reinforced another one of his false claims, telling him that “you can’t have a great democracy with mail-in voting.” That a US president “would take such testimony at face value from a totalitarian strongman is mind-boggling,” Collinson recoiled — “even more so in the light of US intelligence agency assessments that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win.”

He does deserve credit for effectively using US influence in settling foreign disputes, Collinson acknowledge... India and Pakistan; Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo; Thailand and Cambodia; and Armenia and Azerbaijan... by wielding the “unique cudgel” of US trade benefits. “He has saved lives, even if the deals are often less comprehensive than meets the eye.”

But the big dogs... Israel and Gaza, Russia and Ukraine... have brushed him off. Of the latter, his remarks to Fox after Alaska were discouraging.

“I thought this would be the easiest of them all and it was the most difficult.”

All these factors considered, President Zelenskyy, late Saturday afternoon, decided that he would risk at least a preliminary sitdown with Djonald UnSuccessful despite the stated disapproval of Vladimir Putin. No details on timing or location as of the end of the day were provided.

While Trump trots the globe, the Congress and Senate are finding time away from the economy, the aliens and the military invasion of Washington D.C. to address conditions in Ukraine... with a big assist from Melania, not Donald, Trump.

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are floating the possibility of introducing a bill in the Senate that, if passed, could designate Russia and Belarus as state sponsors of terrorism over the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, a source familiar with the bill told NBC News. (ATTACHMENT FORTY FIVE)

Russia and Belarus have taken or displaced tens of thousands of Ukrainian children since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

"The Russian Federation has kidnapped, deported, or displaced Ukrainian children as young as a few months to 17-year-olds,” a draft of the bill text reads.

Unless Putin returns the children to their families, the bill directs SecState Marco “to designate Russia and Belarus as state sponsors of terrorism.”

“Let me tell you, I’ve never been more hopeful this war can end honorably and justly than I am right now,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a leading hawk on the Ukraine war, said on Fox News Friday night (see previous New York Times attachment twenty eight).

It’s chances of passage are growing – over the past week more Congressional Republicans, including Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Don Bacon of Nebraska, warning that even a proposed bilateral settlement (without Ukraine involvement) risks rewarding Putin’s invasion by effectively legitimizing Russia’s territorial gains and military aggression (Time, Att. Twenty, Above);

John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, told CNN, “Trump did not lose, but Putin clearly won.” (Hindustan times, Attachment Thirty Six, Above)

Rather than addressing the crisis, Trump (as of Saturday night) appeared to be merching it – at least via surrogates.

A pro-Trump group today sent another fundraising email to supporters that mentioned the president's meeting with Putin in Alaska NBC reported.

"I met with Putin in Alaska yesterday! After my meeting with him, I need you to answer just one question… Do you still stand with Donald Trump?" the email reads.

And from Trump Himself (at least allegedly): "I’m meeting with Putin in Alaska! It’s a little chilly. THIS MEETING IS VERY HIGH STAKES for the world. The Democrats would love nothing more than for ME TO FAIL. No one in the world knows how to make deals like me!"

Red State politicians hailed Alaska and looked forward to their hero meeting (and presumably vanquishing) the insectile Zelenskyy.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said on X that the meeting was a "step in the right direction," while Sen. John Cornyn R-Texas said he was "cautiously optimistic," and that Ukraine "must be part of any negotiated settlement."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted on X that Trump was "moving us towards PEACE."

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote that Trump had "rolled out the red carpet" for an "authoritarian thug," saying the President handed Putin "legitimacy, a global stage, zero accountability, and got nothing in return."

His concerns were echoed by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who said Trump had treated "a war criminal like royalty."

NEXT WEEK: RUSSIA/UKRAINE developments beginning Sunday... the on again, off again, bilateral, trilateral or crowdsourced sequel(s) to Anchorage.

Will this be the long-awaited Aurora Americanis... or just more gaslighting?

	IN the NEWS: AUGUST 14^th through AUGUST 20^th, 2025
Thursday, August 14, 2025 Dow: 44,915.26	Investors are happy with the Chinese 90 day TACO and hope of lowered Fed interest rates. Stocks are up. Trump is manly – warning of “severe consequences” if Putin doesn’t bow or a three way pockaway with the Z-Man if he does. Meanwhile Trad Vlad continues bombing and shooting civilians, garnering the highest toll in three years. DC is aflame with protests, good time for a nice, cool vacation. National Guard takeover of local police protested at Washington Mall – along for the ride are proposed Social Security cuts and/or privatization, bums on food stamps, crime, aliens, insects like Taylor Swift making noise with her new album. Disease seems to be everywhere. RFK Junior professes disconcern, but brain-eating amoebas are infesting the Lake of the Ozark. Mutant ticks are spreading mutant variations of Lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The good news is that TV docs say Americans are drinking less alcohol and the CDC is working on a cure for bladder cancer and a no-stick nasal flu vax (unless Bobby Junior shuts them down).
Friday, August 15, 2025 Dow: 44,175.91	Trump and Putin meet at an American Air Force base in Anchorage. They trade compliments: Vlad calls Donnie “sincere”, the President responds: Putin’s a“smart” guy. They ride off to the summit site in a Presidential limousine. Talking heads had anticipated a four to seven hour meeting but it ends after only three but participants (Vlad and two goons, Trump and two stooges... Marco and Witkoff) emerge smiling but cancel their press conference and Djonald UnDisclosing hurries back to Washington leaving the media mystified and babbling old saws. Putin speaks first, lecturing assembled Americans about Russian history in Alaska and how well they got along in World War II; ABC cuts him off for a Ford commercial, then a NFL exhibition game. CBS toils on until the dreary end with POTUS reiterating “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.” All the deals are on Wall Street today. The Boston Celtics are sold for $6B to private equity mogul Bill Chisholm Hardware and software companies replacing human retail minwagers with robots; giant underwear Gildan buys out Haines. But there’s a corporate divorce, too, Target dropping Ulta beauty products. Courts back Bondi’s order to DC Mayor Bowser to remove the DC police chief, but she refuses until the Guard surrounds and intimidates her. The New Order designates a Quick Task Force to supporess protests and visions of Kent State/Jackson State shimmer in the twilight Night brings the first autopsies of the summer night on the podcasts and mobcasts. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Az) channels Joni Mitchell, saying Trump is “working both sides now” and, as more clowns get in the way, former Ambassador John Sullivan asks “where was the beef?” (Prices up, the butchers say: blame lingering plague, drought and beef burglars).
Saturday, August 16, 2025 Dow: Closed	Saturday morning brings no more clarity, only confusion... but with sneaking suspicions that, in addition to no beef, there was “no there there.” The amateur and professional media only (maybe) understand that their President no longer wants a simple “cease fire” to cease sanctions; MAGA denies it’s a TACO but, rather, the whole enchilada of a peace deal. Particulars perhaps to arise Monday when President Zelenskyy arrives in DC for a second (incomplete) summit. No such media mystification extends to the Kyev Independent, which calls the summit “disgraceful, disgusting and utterly pointless.” Putin continues his bombing and shelling orgy and Melania asks her hustlin’ hubby that, with all the chatter about swapping land for peace, what about the universally-ignored people? Especially the children – an estimated thirty to seven hundred thousand kidnapped and spirited away into Siberian slavery (or, perhaps, to sacrifice to the volcano gods). Back in DC as the arrests and assaults multiply, the anti-Trump coalition also revises its demands... now they want statehood for the Capital (which would close the loophole in the law allowing Trump to send the National Guard and other agencies in to “do what they want to do” for thirty days). The angry President responds that they can stay as long as they want to do what they want... thirty days to three years (more, if MAGA succeeds in getting him a third term or an acquiescent flunkey, the way Putin dodged the Russian term limitations by handing the trappings (but not the power) of power to Medvedev for a while. Out over the sea, Hurricane Erin blows up to a Cat. Five and batters Puerto Rico and the Virgins... it still is expected to turn away from the continential coast, but raising rip currents and closing beaches.
Sunday, August 17, 2025 Dow: Closed	It’s Talkshow Sunday, and the talking class is spreading little light, but plenty of heat. While the President relaxes, busy little surrogate Marco pops up on ABC where, after scolding substitute Martha Raddatz on “This Week” by stating that peace deals are not decided by the media”, he appeas to validate that Ukraine will have to give up land (and Ukrainians) for peace. “Both sides have to give and get.” On “Face the Nation” an hour later, he attempts to justify Putin’s proposal that the “root causes” of the war have to be addressed – and when Margaret Brennan says that the root cause was that Russia invaded Ukraine, Rubio stutters... “well, yeah...” and then says that the war did not start with Trump. He now seems to endorse Putin’s endorsement of Trump saying it was all Biden’s fault and adds “base issues” to the “root causes”... America is just being helpful, but Russia and Ukraine will have to determine the particulars. Rep. Jason Crow (D-Co): Old Goneaway Joe “did enough to keep Ukraine from losing, but not enough to win.” Trump, on social media, goes back to hectoring the Z-Man saying that Russia is a powerful country “and you are not... “MAKE A DEAL!” Anticipaing the President’s pivot away from his previous pivot, Zelenskyy drags along a chorus of Euro diplomats and politicians to perhaps fight off the police and National Guard if Djonald InDiscriminatory attempts to enforce his abandonment of the “severe consequences”. He also defends his denial of visas to sick and wounded children from Gaza because those who accompany them might be Hamas terrorists. (No comment on medical visas for Uke soldiers.)
Monday, August 18, 2025 Dow: 44,911.82	Zelenskyy and his posse arrive in DC for meeting with Trump. Unlike February, it’s all peace, smiles and jokes but... bottom line... no peace deal, no cease fire. While they chatter, Putin sends more missiles and drones out to bomb civilian – a cute one year old girl is slaughtered. There, in Washington, three more states send National Guardsmen to patrol, they are hunting down aliens and seat-belt violators. Nobody killed yet but protests escalate. Amidst foreign visitors and domestic strife, Trump proposes to limit HUD housing to two years (landlord lobbies promise pre-emptive evictions as will vastly increase homelessness), crack down on student debtors (debt prisons?), kill voting by mail – thus disenfranchising many poor, elderly and disabled Americans (as well as... beware!... soldiers on active duty overseas). For his part, RFK Junior greenlights toxic pesticide levels. Multiple active shooters kill 3, wound nine in Brooklyn, cop shoots idiot with fake gun on Staten Island. Three cops shot, two die in Utah. Hundreds are explosed to rabid bats in Grand Teton lodge – more in Canada and Wisconsin.
Tuesday, August 19, 2025 Dow: 44,922.27	Texas legislators return to Austin to let the gerrymandering happen, confident that Gov. Abbott’s criminality will be matched by Gove, Newsome (D-Ca), Despite their return, they will be arrested and ordered not to go anywhere without a “police escort”; thereafter to prison. The vote is postponed after bombing threats. Also in Austin, a truck of bees crashes, unleashing stinging swarms on the public. President Trump, between Ukraine meetings turns to “woke” exhibits in National Museums and orders that the Smithsonian portracy nice things about slavery. (“Birth of a Nation showings?”) With HUD subsidies limited to only two years, many landlords say they will no longer rent to recipients who... now homes... will be arrested and incarcerated. Sen Jon Ossoff (D-Ga) sponsors a bill to exempt veterans from the HUD cuts. And for the fat people, Ozempic says it will lower prices... to $499!
Wednesday, August 20, 2025 Dow: 44,938.31	There’s trouble in Jellystone! A park ranger is fired for waving a gay flag at Yosemite while another ranger is stabbed in Colorado. “Not me!” says Yogi. Hurricane Erin remains hundreds of miles offshore, but causes high tides and rip currents, washing away beach houses in Rodanthe and Kill Devil Hills, NC. It’s headed out to sea, but beaches from Florida to Gotham will be closed. The Southwest could use the rain, but record heat continues and wildfires now breaking out in the Everglades. In health news, big box stores like WalMart and Home Depot, already facing tariff price increases, now have to clean radioactive shrimp from Indonesia off their shelves. Fortunately for the safe and the thrifty, McDonalds will be cutting prices on its burgers, despite a beef shortage that is raising prices in the markets. And in crime and legal news more National Guardsman arrive in Washington to round up aliens and seat belt violators, angry passengers sue Delta for putting them in “window seats” without windows. Plenty of protests, nobody shot as yet. Police arrest a dope dealer peddling elephant tranquilizers, Brian Kohberger claims multiple rapes and beatings in prison and HomeSecSec Kristi Noem says the Big Beautiful Wall will be painted black to prevent Mexicans from climbing over it. Superstition?
While the world waits... on the possibilities of treaties or ceasefires in Ukraine, in the MidEast and elsewhere; on Feddie Powell’s decision to raise or lower interest rates, due Friday; for better weather and the beginning of the school and football season and for Taylor Swift’s new album or Marvel’s new superhero movie... the Don and the Dow are both stagnant. The slight drop in the former is almost entirely the result of a drop in real estate prices (bad for homeowners, good for homeseekers) but affordability remains an issue. On the real estate market, at the grocers’, in the used car lots and ports where the last foreign goods are arriving in advance of Trump’s new, but ever-shifting tariffs. We’ve covered the Ukraine negotiations through the Trump/Putin summit in Alaska (no deal) and will deal with Zelenskyy, his coming to America and search for peace next week.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a further explanation of categories HERE

ECONOMIC INDICES		(60%)
CATEGORY	VALUE	BASE	RESULTS by PERCENTAGE			SCORE		OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS
INCOME	(24%)	6/17/13 revised 1/1/22	LAST	CHANGE	NEXT	LAST WEEK	THIS WEEK	THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS...
Wages (hrly. Per cap)	9%	1350 points	8/14/25	+0.32%	9/25	1,583.91	1,583.91	https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages   31.34
Median Inc. (yearly)	4%	600	8/14/25	+0.06%	8/28/25	749.44	749.87	http://www.usdebtclock.org/   44,031 056
Unempl. (BLS – in mi)	4%	600	8/14/25	+2.44%	9/25	542.87	542.87	http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/ 4.2
Official (DC – in mi)	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.04%	8/28/25	222.65	222.56	http://www.usdebtclock.org/      7,036 039
Unofficl. (DC – in mi)	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.12%	8/28/25	248.65	248.35	http://www.usdebtclock.org/     13,909 926
Workforce Participation Number Percent	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.029% +0.010%	8/28/25	297.72	297.69	In 163,643 686 Out 103,551 604 Total: 267,194 290 61.245 .239
WP % (ycharts)*	1%	150	8/14/25	-0.16%	8/25	150.47	150.47	https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.20
OUTGO	(15%)
Total Inflation	7%	1050	8/14/25	+0.3%	0/25	931.17	931.17	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.2
Food	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.3%	0/25	263.91	263.91	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.0
Gasoline	2%	300	8/14/25	+1.0%	0/25	260.05	260.05	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm    -1.9
Medical Costs	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.6%	0/25	273.93	273.93	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.8
Shelter	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.2%	0/25	251.64	251.64	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.3
WEALTH
Dow Jones Index	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.04%	8/28/25	341.50	341.62	https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 44,922.27 44,938.31
Home (Sales) (Valuation)	1% 1%	150 150	8/14/25	+2.04% -2.96%	9/25	121.44 286.03	123.91 277.56	https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics Sales (M):  3.93 4.01 Valuations (K):  435.3 422.4
Millionaires (New Category)	1%	150	8/14/25	+0.055%	8/28/25	133.39	133.46	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    23,679 692
Paupers (New Category)	1%	150	8/14/25	+0.019%	8/28/25	133.00	133.03	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    37,351 344
GOVERNMENT	(10%)
Revenue (trilns.)	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.15%	8/28/25	445.30	445.98	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    5,226 234
Expenditures (tr.)	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.11%	8/28/25	285.53	285.31	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    7,235 243
National Debt tr.)	3%	450	8/14/25	+0.08%	8/28/25	361.09	360.81	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    37,232 261
Aggregate Debt (tr.)	3%	450	8/14/25	+0.14%	8/28/25	375.56	375.03	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    105,689 835
TRADE	(5%)
Foreign Debt (tr.)	2%	300	8/14/25	+0.20%	8/28/25	260.56	260.03	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    9,299 318
Exports (in billions)	1%	150	8/14/25	-0.61%	8/25	172.77	172.77	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 277.3
Imports (in billions))	1%	150	8/14/25	+3.85%	8/25	161.12	161.12	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 337.5
Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)	1%	150	8/14/25	+11.88%	8/25	330.21	330.21	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 60.2
SOCIAL INDICES		(40%)
ACTS of MAN	(12%)
World Affairs	3%	450	8/14/25	+0.2%	8/28/25	472.42	473.36	Z-Man off to see the Wizard, drags along entourage of Euro leaders as his tinmen, scarecrows and cowardly lions. Crown Prince of Norway arrested for rape. Several wars settled... combatants seeking US perks join Hillary nominating Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
War and terrorism	2%	300	8/14/25	-0.2%	8/28/25	289.25	288.67	Despite talkers talking, wars in Ukraine (above) and the MidEast continue. After more children killed in bombings, Trump calls PM Bibi a war hero, adding “I am one, too!” America ends health visas for sixk and wounded Palestinian children, claiming they are accompanied by Hamas terrorists. 79 Afghan forcibly returned from Iran killed in bus crash.
Politics	3%	450	8/14/25	-0.2%	8/28/25	464.87	463.94	Trump/Putin deal meeting in Alaska results in no deal. Gumment drone throws sandwich at DC border patrol occupier – faces a year in prison and tabloid fame as the Sandwich Guy Gov. Newsome (D-Ca) initiates criminal gerrymandering to counter Texas criminal gerrymandering. USPS to honor Jimmy Carter with a Forever Stamp.
Economics	3%	450	8/14/25	-0.1%	8/28/25	430.94	430.51	Rising prices: beef, fruits & vegetables. Falling: oil and home mortgage interest rates. Ron Insane (CNBC) says employers cracking down on lazy workers who can be replaced by robots. Fake Labubu dolls are choking children to death.
Crime	1%	150	8/14/25	-0.1%	8/28/25	212.74	212.53	Minnesota woman asks God to “guide my bullets’ before shooting neighbor. New Orleans Mayor Cantrell indicted for having sex with her bodyguard. $2M jewel heist in Seattle. Brinks robbery suspects arrested, Georgia woman mauled to death by dogs. Boxer Julio Cesar Chavez arrested in LA, deported to Mexico.
ACTS of GOD	(6%)
Environment/Weather	3%	450	8/14/25	-0.2%	8/28/25	349.39	348.69	Erin hits Cat. 5 before fading and detouring northeast to hassle the halibut but generates rip currents and high waves that wash away beach homes in Rodanthe, Kitty Hawk and the unheavenly (and unhilly) Kill Devil Hills, NC. Over 300 killed in Pakistani flooding.
Disasters	3%	450	8/14/25	+0.2%	8/28/25	410.27	411.09	Drunk driver hits gas line, causing building explosion that injures four firefighters, Big airplane drunk taken down by even bigger passenger over Colorado while flight attendents strike Air Canada, stranding thousands until the gumment orders them back to work. Snake kills Tennessee hiker, sharks shred surfers, but a luckier hiker rescued after two days stuck “behind” a Sequoia Forest waterfall. He’s safe, but... say rangers... dehydrated?
LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX		(15%)
Science, Tech, Education	4%	600	8/14/25	+0.1%	8/28/25	614.61	615.22	NASA finds a new moon circling Uranus. AI used to manage weddings as now cost an average $36K. Texas funds $750M “fly factory” to breed insect traitors as will kill and eat cattle parasites. Gumment calls Zelle a portal for scammers, other scammers hack food stamps, and airline refund apps.
Equality (econ/social)	4%	600	8/14/25	-0.1%	8/28/25	664.40	663.74	Air Canada workers on strike to protest payless time while planes are grounded, tentative settlement and criminal prosecutions arrive simultaneously. Trump’s war on DEI targets museums, MAGA says they now have to say nice things about slavery.
Health	4%	600	8/14/25	-0.2%	8/28/25	424.30	423.45	TV docs say real docs working on cures for bladder cancer and other vaxxes making progress – if RFK lets them. He fires 600 more CDC workers and Measles throws a freak off. Americans drinking less alcohol but subject to mutant ticks, brainworms and, in Grand Teton Lodge, WY, rangers confront rabid bats. “Blue light” from phones and devices disrupt sleep and can kill... turn them off at night!
Freedom and Justice	3%	450	8/14/25	-0.1%	8/28/25	485.48	484.99	Melania, advocate for Uke children, sues Hunter Biden for Epstein sex allegations. Louisiana sues Roblos for “chld exploitation”. New Jersey will sentence parents of bad children to 3 months jail (leaving the brats free to do more of what they do). Ketamine Queen gets 65 years for Matthew Perry OD.
CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS			(6%)
Cultural incidents	3%	450	8/14/25	+0.2%	8/28/25	567.15	568.28	NFL preseason continues, no catastrophic injuries this week. Venus Williams becomes oldest US Open competitor since Renee Richard in 1981. Yankees hit record 9 home runs in 13-3 victory over Tampa. “Weapons” wins weak $25M B.O. as cinephiles await fall and its sequels and superheroes; Taylor Swift promises Oct. 3 release of “Life of a Showgirl”. RIP: Terence Stamp (“Billy Budd” and supervillain Zod), Tristan Rogers (“General Hospital”), “Caught in Providence” Judge Frank Caprio.
Miscellaneous incidents	4%	450	8/14/25	nc	8/28/25	540.16	540.16	Monica Lewinsky and Amanda Knox team up to merch their stories through books, tabloids and “reality” show. Big changes backfore for Cracker Barrel and failing Olive Garden diners. MSNBC will change its name to MSNOW.

The Don Jones Index for the week of August 14^th through August 20^th, 2025 was DOWN 7.99 points

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM EURACTIV GERMANY

EUROPE CONDEMNS ‘GASLIGHTING’ TACTICS DURING TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING

Most reactions came from Eastern European countries. However, the German chair of the Defence Committee also had strong words

Brenda Strohmaier and Sarantis Michalopoulos Euractiv Aug 16, 2025 12:00

The inconclusive summit between Trump and Putin has been met with dismay and astonishment by European politicians, with only the Hungarian president believing that the major powers of the US and Russia are on the right track.

Most reactions came from Eastern European countries, which have supported a strong Western response to Putin.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky expressed support for Trump's efforts toward peace but warned against falling for Kremlin propaganda.

“The problem is Russian imperialism, not Ukraine's desire to live freely. ... If Putin were serious about peace talks, he would not have been attacking Ukraine all day today,” Lipavsky wrote on X.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė criticized Putin’s remarks urging Ukraine and the EU not to “sabotage” the talks.

“More gaslighting and veiled threats from Putin. A war criminal with a history of poisoning his critics addresses the US President with, ‘Very good to see you in good health and to see you alive,’” she said.

Only the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed the summit.

"For years, we have watched the two biggest nuclear powers dismantle the framework of their cooperation and shoot unfriendly messages back and forth. That has now come to an end. Today the world is a safer place than it was yesterday," Orban, a rare pro-Kremlin leader in Europe, said on X.

‘Bitterly angry burlesque’

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Chair of the Committee on Security and Defence at the European Parliament, said in an interview with the German media outlet WELT that: “What we were treated to in two and a half hours was a bitterly angry burlesque.”

She accused Trump of having “completely lost his moral compass” and said the only result of the summit was “that Putin is back on the red carpet of the international world.”

She called on Europe to act united and to “continue supporting Ukraine with weapons so that the Ukrainian people are protected, support them economically, and make the Russian funds that are in Europe available to Ukraine immediately.”

Similarly, former German ambassador to the United States Wolfgang Ischinger commented that Putin received his red carpet treatment with Trump, while Trump got nothing.

“As was to be feared: no ceasefire, no peace. No real progress – a clear 1-0 for Putin – no new sanctions. For the Ukrainians: nothing. For Europe: deeply disappointing,” he said on X.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide noted that Putin repeated familiar points, including highlighting the so-called "root causes" of the war - a phrase used to justify Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

He emphasised Norway’s firm stance, stating that it is crucial to maintain and even intensify pressure on Russia to send a clear message that there will be consequences. Eide also warned that Putin aims to divide the unity between the EU and the US, stressing that Kyiv’s voice must be heard.

Euractiv is part of the Trust Project

ATTACHMENT TWO – FROM 1440

TRUMP TO MEET PUTIN

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, at 3:30 pm ET today to discuss the war in Ukraine. The talk—which will be conducted one-on-one with two translators present—will be followed by lunch with their delegations and a joint press conference.

While Putin and Trump have had several phone calls this year, this will be their first in-person meeting since 2018. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not attend, though he did join Trump and other NATO leaders in a virtual meeting Wednesday. During that call, Trump affirmed his commitment to a ceasefire and agreed not to discuss peace deal parameters, including possible territorial divisions, without Ukraine present. Putin reportedly seeks to add US-Russia nuclear arms relations to today’s agenda. Trump told reporters his aim is to secure a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

ATTACHMENT THREE – FROM TIME

‘DON’T DELUDE YOURSELVES’: WHY TRUMP’S SUMMIT IN ALASKA CANNOT END PUTIN’S WAR IN UKRAINE

By Simon Shuster Aug 15, 2025 6:00 AM ET

Four summers ago, when the U.S. and Russia last held a summit of their two presidents, one of the officials in charge of organizing it was Eric Green. As Senior Director for Russia and Central Asia at the National Security Council, his phone rang whenever President Biden had a question about Vladimir Putin. In early 2021, it rang often.

For one thing, Putin decided that spring to send tens of thousands of troops to his border with Ukraine, raising fears of an imminent invasion.

At around the same time, Russian hackers launched a series of crippling ransomware attacks against American hospitals and businesses. On top of that, an important nuclear treaty between the U.S. and Russia was about to lapse. So Biden did what his successor, Donald Trump, would end up doing four years later: He invited Putin to meet and talk.

“The context was completely different,” Green told me this week, when I asked about comparisons to the summit Trump is holding with Putin today in Alaska.

Indeed, Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine when Biden met Putin for the last time in June 2021. But on one thing the Russian president has remained stubbornly consistent.

“There is continuity in his views about Ukraine,” Green says. “He wants to control its freedom of action, to dominate it.”

The stated aims of Trump's summit with Putin — such as his idea of “swapping” one piece of Ukrainian territory for another, or the notion of a partial ceasefire — will not address what the Russian leader has long described as the “root causes” of the war. “When he talks about root causes, he’s talking about Ukraine’s existence as a sovereign, independent country,” Green explains. “That’s not Trump’s to give away.” 

Without it, Putin cannot be expected to leave Ukraine in peace. At most, he might pause the fighting — allowing for a temporary truce to let his armies recover and his economy restore some of Russia’s depleted wealth. But seizing some Ukrainian territory would not satisfy Putin’s desire to bring the entire country under Russian control. Vladimir Solovyov, one of the leading propagandists on Russian state TV, made this clear to his millions of viewers this week. “Don’t delude yourselves,” he told them of the summit’s prospects for peace. “This war is for a long time.”

Putin’s objectives were not yet clear to Washington in June 2021. Ahead of that summit, held on neutral ground in Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva, the Russians had pulled most of their forces away from their border with Ukraine, signaling that they wanted to give the U.S. a chance to prevent the outbreak of war. When Biden and Putin emerged from their meeting, however, their positions remained so far apart that the two leaders chose not to appear before the media to talk about the results. “We refused to have a joint press conference with him,” says Green. “We were dealing with an adversary, not a partner.” 

Weeks later, Putin published a lengthy manifesto, arguing that Ukraine belongs by right to Russia and cannot exist as an independent nation. “True sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia,” he wrote. 

By end of 2021, Russian troops returned to the border in even greater numbers, and Biden made another attempt to defuse the tensions with a presidential summit. He even offered to discuss issues far beyond Ukraine, such as the future of the NATO alliance and European security.

The Russians responded with a set of demands that the Americans could not even pretend to take seriously. The main one called for the NATO alliance to withdraw from eastern Europe, moving back to where they stood before Putin took power. “NATO needs to pack up its stuff and go back to where it was in 1997,” the lead Russian envoy in talks with the Americans, Sergei Ryabkov, said at the time. 

The U.S. rejected the ultimatum and threatened sanctions, which came into force when Russia invaded in February 2022.

Since then, the only thing that has stopped Putin from taking the whole country has been Ukrainian military force, bolstered by Western weapons. Even battlefield defeats — Kyiv in spring 2022, Kharkiv and Kherson that fall — have not shifted his ambitions.

Today, the war has devolved into a grinding, bloody stalemate centered mostly around the eastern region of the Donbas, where Russian forces have continued making slow territorial gains, mile by mile, despite their own horrifying losses and the wholesale destruction of the towns and cities Putin claims to be liberating. 

Still, Putin insists the “root causes” must be resolved before peace. On Aug. 1, days before Trump confirmed the Alaska summit, Putin repeated: “Our conditions, the goals of Russia, have not changed. The main thing is to uproot the causes of this crisis.”

All the while, the Russian leader has repeated time and again that the “root causes” of the invasion must be addressed before he ends the war. He said it again on August 1, about a week before Trump confirmed his plans for a summit in Alaska. “Our conditions, the goals of Russia, have not changed,” Putin said. “The main thing is to uproot the causes of this crisis.” 

The phrase may sound open to interpretation, but to those who have dealt with him, it is anything but.  

“He has been remarkably consistent on this point,” Green says. Putin wants all of Ukraine — and will use any means necessary to get it. A tactical pause to let Trump play peacemaker is one thing; securing the future of Ukraine is another. Only the Ukrainians, with whatever arms and allies they are able muster, can do that.

ATTACHMENT FOUR – FROM WASHPOST

EVEN BEFORE ALASKA SUMMIT, PUTIN IS REDRAWING GLOBAL ORDER TO HIS LIKING

The Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin represents a return to great-power politics in which big countries call the shots.

By Robyn Dixon, Francesca Ebel and Catherine Belton August 14, 2025 at 5:00 a.m. EDTToday at 5:00 a.m. EDT

Even before talks begin, President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with President Donald Trump at a U.S. military base in Alaska on Friday is advancing the Russian’s goal of redrawing the global security order, as the two men revive a great-power system in which a few big countries call the shots.

Putin set the scene last week after meeting Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, when he ruled out meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until certain conditions were met — conditions that he said remained “far off.”

Trump agreed and dismissed the idea of Zelensky’s attendance, even as the future of his nation — and its 40 million citizens — hangs in the balance.

Zelensky had been in many meetings in 3½ years — since the start of Russia’s invasion — Trump said Monday, and “nothing happened. … I mean, do you want somebody that’s been doing this for 3½ years?”

A tête-à-tête summit, on U.S. soil, was not Putin’s only important win. He also diverted, for now, Trump’s threat of tough economic sanctions against Russian oil and deflected Trump’s calls for a ceasefire. On Monday, Trump was back to blaming Zelensky for the war — echoing Putin — although Trump seemed more conciliatory in a videoconference with Zelensky and European leaders Wednesday.

The optics of the Alaska meeting reinforce Putin’s long-held goal of rebuilding Russia as one of a handful of major global powers with rightful spheres of influence, and it delivers on his short-term tactical objective of a one-on-one meeting to woo and manipulate Trump.

A former senior Kremlin official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, called the Alaska summit “a golden opportunity” for Putin, adding: “And of course a visit to the U.S. is a massive victory.”

Another person with close ties to the Kremlin and who also spoke on the condition of anonymity said the summit, which is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. Friday in Anchorage, was “a real chance to put an end to this” and that the meeting had been designed to “soothe the Russian elites, for whom this war is a disgrace, and want everything to get back to normal.”

Former senior Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev, who resigned over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, said Putin had offered so little that it was difficult to see why Trump agreed to meet. He said it appeared to be a Kremlin ploy to divert Trump from sanctions, just as Putin diverted Trump’s call for a ceasefire in May by proposing peace talks in Istanbul that delivered nothing.

While Trump has lately criticized Putin’s attacks on Ukrainian cities, he has not imposed sanctions or any other pressure on Russia beyond rhetoric. Trump told reporters on Wednesday that there would be “very severe” consequences if Putin continued the war after the Alaska meeting, although he has made similar threats before without following through.

“It’s a bad idea for Trump to host this meeting,” Bondarev said, questioning the purpose and benefit. “First he said, ‘I want to meet with Vladimir and we will make a deal somehow.’” But then, he added, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the meeting was to find out what Putin wants, when “it’s totally visible what the other side wants.”

Putin has long made clear that he is demanding that Ukraine surrender four resource-rich regions and recognize Russia’s 2014 illegal invasion and annexation of Crimea. Putin also wants Ukraine barred from NATO membership and its military constrained to the point that it would have little use.

Rubio said Tuesday that meeting Putin was “not a concession” but a “feel-out meeting.”

“A meeting is what you do to kind of figure out and make your decision,” Rubio contended, adding an echo of Trump’s assertion that the chances of success would be clear early on.

Meetings between U.S. and Russian presidents — leaders of the nations with the world’s largest nuclear arsenals — are normally exquisitely choreographed, highly negotiated events in which concrete “deliverables” are agreed upon well in advance and nothing is left to chance.

Putin’s attacks on Zelensky’s legitimacy as recently as Aug. 1, and his depictions of Ukraine as a corrupt and artificial state, firmly place the Ukrainian on a lower plane, worthy of a meeting only when he accepts Russia’s terms.

“Putin would like to present it to Trump like this: that with you, Donald, we know how things are done, and all these people from Europe and this Zelensky boy, this nasty boy, shouldn’t be involved,” Bondarev said. “‘They don’t know what to do. They don’t know what they want. We know what we want, so let’s agree.’ Maybe Trump can be flattered like this.”

Trump, perhaps unwittingly, reinforces the narrative.

At a news conference Monday, he seemed to portray two tough men working out a deal together, dismissing Zelensky’s input and claiming that European leaders “very much rely on me. If it wasn’t for me, this thing would never get solved until the last person breathing is dead.”

Trump expressed strong dissatisfaction with Zelensky, whom he seemed to blame for the fighting: “I get along with Zelensky, but I disagree with what he’s done — very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,” he said.

He complained about Zelensky citing the barriers in Ukraine’s constitution to changing borders. “He’s got approval to go into war, kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap,” Trump said. Trump, however, did not mention that Russia quickly wrote the invaded and illegally annexed Ukrainian regions into its constitution in a bid to prevent their return.

Boasting that Putin told him how “tough” he was, Trump called Russia “tough” too, and he described Putin’s invasion as a reflection of the Russian character.

“It’s a warring nation,” Trump said. “That’s what they do. They fight a lot of wars.”

Zelensky, he warned, had to accept “some land swapping” that would be “for the good of Ukraine” but also “some bad stuff for both.”

Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the German parliament from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, said the exclusion of Europe and Ukraine from the meeting in Alaska meant the end of the West, in the sense of a collective alliance of the United States, European Union nations and NATO allies.

“‘The West’ as an emotional or ethical term — it’s over,” Kiesewetter said. “That’s my main concern.” His other fear, he added, is the fate of Ukrainians.

Putin has other opportunities in Alaska, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stating Tuesday that a key Moscow objective is to “normalize” relations with the U.S., a reference to the Kremlin’s goal of ending sanctions, restoring direct flights and enabling U.S.-Russian business deals.

Russia also wants to deflect blame onto Ukraine for Trump’s failure so far to end the war, according to analysts, in the hope that the Trump administration could halt intelligence support to Ukraine just as it has slowed weapons deliveries.

With recent Russian battlefield advances, Putin is confident that victory is with reach, according to Russian analysts, and he is disinclined to compromise, despite huge Russian casualties. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that the number of Russians killed or wounded will reach 1 million over the summer.

But the former senior Kremlin official said that Putin no longer cares about the human cost of the war, calling him “very thick-skinned.”

“He is like a turtle,” the former official said. “This does not touch him anymore.”

War fatigue appears to be setting in on all sides. The official said most people within the Kremlin oppose the war but are afraid to tell Putin.

“Everyone is scared of Putin. People do not want to talk about compromising because they all need to show that they are patriots,” he said.

As for the summit, the former official said: “I have low expectations. … They will either have to give an ultimatum to Ukraine, or walk away with very little achieved.”

ATTACHMENT FIVE – FROM INDEPENDENT U.K.

UKRAINE BELIEVES PUTIN HAS JUST ‘ONE CARD LEFT TO PLAY’ IN CEASEFIRE TALKS – AND IT GIVES KYIV THE UPPER HAND

Exclusive: Ukraine and its allies believe European support and the threat of further sanctions give Kyiv the edge over Moscow – they just hope they have done enough to convince Donald Trump, writes world affairs editor Sam Kiley

BY Sam Kiley Wednesday 13 August 2025 20:16 BST

Vladimir Putin has “only one card” left to play – to prolong the killing in Ukraine, according to a senior source in Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidential office as Europe held top-level talks ahead of the Alaska summit this week.

Zelensky has not been invited to Friday’s meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. And there are deep concerns that the US president will emerge from the encounter taking an even harder line on Ukraine.

Europe’s leaders, including Keir Starmer, have been corralling US officials and White House insiders, and met virtually with the Oval Office to try to persuade Trump to use the leverage he has over Putin to get him to agree to a ceasefire.

Trump told those gathered on the call that he would push Putin for a ceasefire deal at the meeting in Anchorage, but Zelensky voiced concerns that the Russian president, not for the first time, was “bluffing” about wanting a path to peace.

He told the US president that Putin “is trying to apply pressure ... on all sectors of the Ukrainian front” to show he is capable of occupying the whole of Ukraine.

A source close to Zelensky told The Independent that Putin only has one goal in mind: “The main thing for Putin is to try to trade land for ceasefires. The ability to kill and to prolong war is the only card Putin has. So, he’s trying to play this card.”

In February this year, Trump lost his temper with Zelensky, yelling at him that he didn’t “have the cards” in the conflict with Russia during an infamous press conference in the Oval Office.

Now, Ukraine insists, it’s Putin who has the weaker hand.

Europe’s leaders tried to reinforce that message to Trump, pushing the idea that sanctions really are having an effect on Russia. They emphasised this so that Trump feels confident to threaten further economic sanctions against countries that import Russian oil – and even to renew arms shipments to Ukraine – in his effort to persuade Putin to suspend military operations.

“Trump does want to finish the killings, it’s true, and he has the power to do it. So the question is, for him, how to do the right thing,” the Ukrainian presidential adviser said.

So far, Putin has said any ceasefire would have to be premised on the condition that Ukraine agrees to cede four provinces – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – to Russia along with Crimea. He also wants assurances that Ukraine will not use any pause in the fighting to rearm.

Ukraine has long agreed to a minimum 30-day unconditional ceasefire, and insists it is willing to discuss grounds for peace.

As speculation mounts over what Friday’s summit will achieve, Trump has indicated that he agrees with Russia and that Ukraine should be prepared to agree “land swaps” of Ukrainian territory.

Europe, the UK and Ukraine have ruled out such concessions – especially as part of any deal struck between Russia and the US without Ukraine being present.

Despite the fanfare over the meeting in Anchorage, the US actually has less power, and therefore less influence over the outcome of the talks, as a result of forcing Kyiv and Europe into taking on more of the burden of helping Ukraine to defend its territory.

Trump cut all military aid to Ukraine earlier this year. The total US military spend there has amounted to €114bn (£84bn), which is dwarfed by the current pledged contribution by the UK and the EU, which stands at €250bn (£216bn).

Ukraine’s Nato allies now have to buy US weapons to supply Kyiv, but there are no signs that the US could ban that revenue stream.

Russia has seen its second-largest oil client, India, hit with 50 per cent US tariffs, with 25 per cent imposed in an effort to convince Putin to respond to Trump’s ceasefire proposals. And if the US decided to open the taps of free military aid again, it could tip the tactical balance rapidly in Ukraine’s favour.

The UK and Europe want Trump to spell this out to Putin.

“Zelensky supports the ceasefire,” the Ukrainian source said. “The problem is that Putin rejects it. The majority of Ukrainians want to see peace, it’s true, but at the same time the majority of Ukrainians reject Russian claims on the territory.”

ATTACHMENT SIX – FROM THE WASHINGTON POST

‘A FUNDAMENTAL MISUNDERSTANDING’: WILL TRUMP’S ALASKA SUMMIT ACHIEVE ANYTHING?

Three writers discuss what to expect from Friday’s meeting.

By Damir Marusic, David Ignatius and Max Boot August 14, 2025 at 8:00 a.m. EDT

The highly anticipated Trump-Putin summit will take place tomorrow in Anchorage. On the agenda: how to end the Ukraine war. The meeting is sure to provide much theater, but will it yield anything else? I sat down with my colleagues David Ignatius and Max Boot to discuss.

— Damir Marusic,

Damir Marusic Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reportedly said, “I have many fears and a lot of hope.” David, Max, how are you feeling ahead of the sit-down?

David Ignatius For me, it’s a mix of hope and dread. The hope is that President Donald Trump, having committed so much to ending a war that he rightly condemns as a bloodbath, will lean hard enough on Russian President Vladimir Putin to get terms that reasonable people could sell to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his country. The fear is that Trump will simply listen to Putin‘s demands and either seek to impose them on Ukraine or walk away from his diplomatic mission. If I had to guess, I’d opt for the fearful version.

Max Boot I have more fear than hope. I see no indication that Putin is going to call off his war (which is making little progress on the ground). The offer Putin apparently made to special envoy Steve Witkoff — he is demanding that Ukraine turn over unconquered, well-defended territory in the Donetsk region in return for a ceasefire — is a nonstarter for Ukraine.

Damir I’m maybe a bit more optimistic. Not in the sense that there will be any progress, but the opposite: The White House seems to be lowering expectations about what’s possible. Trump on Monday told reporters, “It’s not up to me to make a deal.”

Max Yes, I’m mildly cheered to see the White House lowering expectations. But I also know that Trump is mercurial and unpredictable, and he loves surprises. So the chances of Putin-Trump meeting in private and hatching some kind of deal (or, more exactly, the framework of a deal) and Trump coming back to proclaim “peace for our time” are not negligible. I don’t see that as the likeliest outcome — and I am also buoyed by the fact that Trump was able to say no to a bad offer from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their last summit — but it’s a real danger.

David Trump’s flair for the dramatic is what got him into this negotiation in the first place. And recalling his diplomacy with Kim, it’s hard to imagine him just having a “listening exercise” and then saying, “See you later, Vlad.” One way or another, I suspect Trump will want some drama.

Max My concern level will rise if Trump and Putin meet alone, with only interpreters. That’s what happened at their last meeting in Helsinki, and it was a disaster. I hope Trump will take Secretary of State Marco Rubio, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg and others into the room with him (but preferably not Witkoff, who has proved very credulous in dealing with Putin).

David An important baseline for Anchorage will come today, when Trump speaks with European leaders and Zelensky about what Europe might do to support Ukraine against continuing Russian aggression even if the U.S. backs away.

Damir The danger for me seems to be that Trump is still in thrall to the idea that everyone just wants to make money. During that Monday news conference, in the same breath as he said it was not up to him to make a deal, he seemed to hold out hope that normalizing economic relations with Russia could bring Putin to the table, saying that Putin has to get back to rebuilding his country.

David Trump has always had a fantasy that there are “trillions” to be made in a future Russia. People keep trying to talk him out of that misjudgment, I’m told. Yet it persists. Weird.

Max I thought reality was dawning for Trump last month when he started denouncing Putin for having nice conversations but then continuing to bomb civilian centers. Trump was finally on the right track in threatening massive sanctions and agreeing to supply weapons to Ukraine (albeit with the Europeans buying them first). But then he did another U-turn last week, following Witkoff’s meeting with Putin, again blaming Zelensky for starting the war and pretending that Putin is interested in peace. The whole summit is built on a fundamental misunderstanding: Trump thinks Putin wants to end the war. What Putin really wants is to win the war.

David Trump has tried every possible approach to diplomacy. Term sheets. Timelines. High-level meetings. But he keeps coming back to his core idea that it’s only a meeting between the two big guys — him and Putin — that can resolve this, so we end up in Anchorage with very little work done on the shape of a settlement or clarity about what it might involve.

Damir Is there any sense that Trump still has the “stick” of secondary sanctions in mind?

MaxI don’t know what Trump will do, but if he’s serious about making a deal with Putin, he first has to impose the full gamut of pressure and wait for the sanctions to bite. He is making a major blunder by prematurely rushing into a summit when there is no indication that Putin will make any concessions.

David I think Trump would love to use China and India as leverage to get Putin to make concessions. I’m told that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has included Ukraine in his conversations with Chinese officials, and obviously Trump has threatened India with heavy secondary sanctions if it continues to buy oil from Russia. But my guess is that these efforts will fade if Trump encounters an immovable obstacle in Putin on Friday.

Damir An immovable Putin wouldn’t cause him to double down, but fold? Is it TACO all over again?

Max Trump has said he may conclude there is no deal to be had and walk away. That’s fine, if it happens. The question is what happens next. Will he just ignore the entire war, thereby giving Putin a free hand? Or will he return to his threats of sanctions for Russia to punish Putin for intransigence? Trump doesn’t have to insert himself into the peacemaking process — ultimately, it will be up to Russia and Ukraine to make peace, and thus far Putin is not even willing to meet Zelensky — but Trump does need to continue backing Ukraine.

David I don’t like the TACO analogy. It just eggs Trump on, a breakfast taco? as near as I can tell. I think the question for Trump is how much he’s willing to risk to gain a peace in Ukraine that’s desperately important for Europe but less so for the United States. And the answer, probably, is that he’s not willing to risk much.

Damir Marusic is an assignment editor at Post Opinions. Previously, he was executive editor at the American Interest magazine and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center.

David Ignatius writes a twice-a-week foreign affairs column for The Washington Post. His latest novel is “Phantom Orbit.” @ignatiuspost

Max Boot is a Washington Post columnist and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in biography, he is the author, most recently, of the New York Times bestseller “Reagan: His Life and Legend," which was named one of the 10 best books of 2024 by the New York Times.

ATTACHMENT SEVEN – FROM TIME

FROM THE SIDELINES, UKRAINE PREPARES TO WATCH AS U.S., RUSSIA DISCUSS ITS FATE

By Philip Elliott Aug 14, 2025 4:48 PM ET

Given the optimistic tone coming from so many world leaders ahead of Donald Trump’s Friday meeting with Vladimir Putin, one might be forgiven for believing a peaceful end to Russia’s war in Ukraine was merely hours away.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called Wednesday’s video call with Trump to discuss Trump's upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin “a truly exceptionally constructive and good conversation.” From his point of view, Trump “would rate it a 10, very friendly.” Putin told reporters on Thursday that he saw Trump making “quite energetic efforts to stop the fighting, end the crisis, and reach agreements of interest to all parties involved in this conflict.”

All the while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country remains under constant attack from Putin’s Russia, seemed to say what everyone else didn’t want to acknowledge: “Putin does not want peace. He wants to occupy us completely.”

Ahead of a bilateral summit between U.S. and Russian leaders slated to take place on Friday in Alaska, no one was offering hard predictions. It’s impossible to forget just how effectively Putin has succeeded in bending Trump with his charm, brutality, and mind games. The session in Anchorage is likely far from resolving the three-year-old war but could, if Trump’s comments this week hold true, a first step toward winding down a conflict that has left Trump beyond frustrated that he cannot simply will peace into being. 

But everyone has seen Trump set out with one plan only to see him return with a completely revised notion. It’s why Putin is already trying to distract Trump with other agenda items before they even meet.

To be blunt, it’s a coin-toss what happens next. But one thing is certain: none of it will match the tranquility and conformity that leaders were trying to project heading into this session. Trump is famous for going into these sessions under-prepared and over-confident. And recent reports suggest Trump may be preparing a deal with Russia that would trade rare minerals—perhaps those mined in Alaska—with Russia in exchange for peace in Ukraine, a suggestion Trump did not shoot down during a Thursday meeting with reporters. Separately, there are reports that Trump is bandying around an idea that would give Russia military and economic control of an occupied Ukraine, much like Israel has the run of the Palestinians’ West Bank.

Indeed, the expectations-lowering machine was going so fast this week you could see the smoke coming off the gears, with Trump on Thursday doubling-down on the idea that Friday’s session was merely an opening act for the real games that would come quickly and with Zelensky on hand. 

“We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “I think it's going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along. Maybe not.”

It’s the maybe not that has a lot of Ukraine’s allies on edge. Europe’s bloodiest war since 1945 has left the continent unsettled, the West dusting off its Cold War instincts, and Russia increasingly isolated. This will be the first time Putin has had an in-person audience with a U.S. President since 2021, or since he invaded Ukraine the following year. That Trump would welcome Putin on U.S. soil was being spun both as Trump securing home-turf advantage and a moment of capitulation to a cold-blooded dictator whose values are anathema to American values.

For his part, Trump has been aggressively cagey about the summit’s goals as he tries to improvise his way toward the Nobel Peace Prize he openly covets.

“We're going to see what happens. And I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelensky will make peace. We'll see if they can get along, and if they can, it'll be great,” Trump said of the two leaders who have killed thousands of foes in a battle that seems fated.

White House officials and their proxies on the outside have been shameless in repositioning the goalposts so that Trump could declare a win no matter the outcome. The talking point calling the summit a “listening experience” drew so much derision, it teeters on becoming the new Infrastructure Week, a branding campaign infamous for its lack of tangible results. On Thursday, Trump leaned into that posture in his freewheeling session with reporters. 

“We're going to find out where everybody stands,” Trump said, seemingly oblivious to the fact Russia invaded Ukraine and has been far from an honest negotiating partner. “And I'll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, or five minutes left, we tend to find out whether or not we're going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting. And if it's a bad meeting, it'll end very quickly, and if it's a good meeting, we're going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future.”

In an earlier radio interview, Trump said he put the odds of a failed summit at one-in-four and said he would leave Alaska immediately if things go sideways. 

The pieces were certainly in the wings for that outcome. Putin is bringing with him a business delegation that could distract Trump from the task at hand with the prospect of big-ticket investment vehicles. Trump, above all else, sees himself as a deal maker, and an economic package at home could prove more tempting than peace in a far-away corner of the globe. At the same time, Kremlin officials have dangled a nuclear treaty as another potential subject of conversation.

Trump’s advisers see the risk. Putin knows its potential. And Trump himself seems indifferent to the distractions hiding in plain sight.

So as Friday’s summit barrels toward a starting pistol, it is the diplomatic equivalent of a jump ball, with two nuclear powers making a play as Ukraine is left to watch from afar a discussion about its sheer survival.

ATTACHMENT EIGHT – FROM the FINANCIAL TIMES

BY Stephanie Stacey August 14, 2025

Hello and welcome back to White House Watch! Today let’s dig into:

 Trump vs Putin

 Tensions over Bolsonaro

 The new boss of the BLS

President Donald Trump said yesterday that Russia would face “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin refuses to agree to end the war in Ukraine at the leaders’ scheduled meeting in Alaska on Friday.

The threat came after a day of intense diplomacy from Ukraine and its European allies, who were concerned that Trump might strike a deal on territory with Putin and then try to impose it on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump’s comments yesterday went some way towards calming those fears, as he said he hoped Friday’s meeting would followed by a trilateral gathering with both Putin and Zelenskyy.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it was “very important” Trump had recognised that any territorial concession by Ukraine must come with security guarantees — and that the US “should take part”.

The White House had earlier played down expectations that a peace deal would be achieved at Friday’s summit between Putin and Trump, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt describing the meeting as “a listening exercise.” The Kremlin has said Putin and Trump will discuss “economic co-operation” as well as the war in Ukraine and nuclear arms control.

Meanwhile, foreign policy experts have warned that Trump will be entering discussions with Putin without the support of any longtime Russia specialists.

In his second term in office, Trump has prioritised loyalty over experience among his senior aides. Negotiations with Moscow have so far been led by real estate developer Steve Witkoff, while foreign policy veterans have often been sidelined and some forced out of their jobs.

“It’s safe to say that Trump does not have a single policymaking person who knows Russia and Ukraine advising him,” said former career diplomat Eric Rubin.

Putin, meanwhile, is notoriously skilled at catching his interlocutors off guard. “You want to avoid getting entrapped by his skill at debating those points and avoid agreeing to something that may sound reasonable the way it’s presented by Putin, but in fact is distorted,” said Eric Green, who was senior director for Russia at the National Security Council under former president Joe Biden.

Trump’s pick for the next boss of the Bureau of Labor Statistics — after he abruptly fired the last one — has deepened investor concern over the integrity of some of the global market’s most closely watched data.

Trump said in a Truth Social Post on Monday that he was nominating the “Highly Respected Economist” EJ Antoni, a loyalist from the rightwing Heritage Foundation, to chair the agency. The move comes less than two weeks after he fired former commissioner Erika McEntarfer, claiming without evidence that she had “rigged” a disappointing jobs report.

Antoni, who completed a PhD in economics at Northern Illinois University in 2020, has been an ardent supporter of the president and his policies. But even economists on the political right have doubts about his nomination.

“The hope was that [Trump] would pick someone . . . who people would have trust in and could lead the BLS in an appropriate way, with relevant experience and, ideally, not hyper-partisan,” said Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute think-tank. “EJ Antoni is really the opposite of that.”

“The sad thing is that there are countless competent, respected conservative economists who could do a terrific job running BLS,” wrote Jessica Riedl, a former Heritage fellow now at the conservative Manhattan Institute. “But no credible economist would take a job in which you’d get fired for publishing accurate data.”

Analysts warn that a hit to the BLS’s credibility could weaken the Treasury market. “People are really upset,” said Philippa Dunne, a labour market economist at TLR Analytics. “It’s that the rest of the world is not going to trust our data. And if they don’t trust us, they’re not going to lend us money.”

If the market doubts the independence of Trump’s BLS, it could also drive a shift to private providers. “One should expect demand for private-label data to increase,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. “It’s going to become quite the cottage industry going forward.”

 Putin has good reasons to be hopeful, writes columnist Ed Luce. The Russian president may be able to exploit Trump’s desperation for a deal on Ukraine.

 Trump is trading an economy grounded in the rule of law for one ruled by arbitrary deals, writes the FT’s editorial board.

 The foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia warn that Russian occupation is never temporary amid speculation of a territory swap with Ukraine.

 Subdued markets are giving Trump a pass to push norms and institutions closer to the breaking point. Investors are “frogs in a pot”, argues Katie Martin.

ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM THE GUARDIAN U.K.
PUTIN READY TO MAKE UKRAINE DEAL, TRUMP SAYS BEFORE ALASKA SUMMIT

US president’s comment that Russian and Ukrainian leaders may have to ‘divvy’ things up likely to raise alarm

Patrick Wintour Fri 15 Aug 2025 08.34 EDT

Donald Trump has said he believes Vladimir Putin is ready to make a deal on the war in Ukraine as the two leaders prepare for their summit in Alaska on Friday, but his suggestion that the Russian leader and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could “divvy things up” may alarm some in Kyiv.

The US president, who left the White House on Friday at 7.30am, implied there was a 75% chance of the Alaska meeting succeeding, and that the threat of economic sanctions may have made Putin more willing to seek an end to the war. “HIGH STAKES!!!” he posted on Truth Social as his motorcade idled outside the White House shortly after sunrise in Washington.

Trump told reporters on Thursday that he would not let Putin get the better of him in the meeting, saying: “I am president, and he’s not going to mess around with me.”

“I’ll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes or five minutes … whether or not we’re going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting. And if it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future.”

Trump also said a second meeting – not yet confirmed – between him, Putin and Zelenskyy would be the more decisive.

“The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal. And I don’t want to use the word ‘divvy’ things up, but you know, to a certain extent, it’s not a bad term, OK?” Trump told Fox News Radio.

He was referring to the possibility that Zelenskyy will have to accept “land swaps” – the handing over of Ukrainian territory to Russia, potentially including some not captured by Moscow.

Later on Thursday, Trump suggested that any second, trilateral meeting could happen quickly – and possibly take place in Alaska. “Tomorrow, all I want to do is set the table for the next meeting, which should happen shortly,” he said. “I’d like to see it actually happen, maybe in Alaska.”

Any such meeting would be a concession by Putin since he refuses to recognise Zelenskyy as the legitimate leader of Ukraine.

Trump conceded he was unsure whether an immediate ceasefire could be achieved, but expressed interest in brokering a peace agreement. On Putin, he said: “I believe now, he’s convinced that he’s going to make a deal. I think he’s going to, and we’re going to find out.”

Zelenskyy will face a difficult choice if Putin rejects Ukraine’s call for a full 30-day ceasefire and offers only a partial break in the fighting, particularly if Trump thinks a three-way meeting should still go ahead.

The Ukrainian president spent much of Thursday in London discussing Wednesday’s video call between European leaders and Trump with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer. European leaders were largely relieved with the way the conversation went, but know Trump is unpredictable and prone to acting on instinct, rather than sticking to a script.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said changes on the battlefield could make peace harder. “To achieve a peace, I think we all recognise that there’ll have to be some conversation about security guarantees,” he said.

Trump has rejected offering such guarantees before, but it is possible European security guarantees could be agreed. Rubio said he believed Trump had spoken by phone to Putin four times and “felt it was important to now speak to him in person and look him in the eye and figure out what was possible and what isn’t”.

Starmer and Zelenskyy met in Downing Street for breakfast on Thursday and hailed “a visible chance for peace” as long as Putin proved he was serious about ending the war.

European leaders emerged from Wednesday’s meeting reassured that Trump was going into his summit focused on extracting Putin’s commitment to a durable ceasefire and was not seeking to negotiate over Ukraine’s head.

The plan for Trump and Putin to hold a joint press conference after their talks suggests the White House is optimistic the summit will bring about a breakthrough. Moscow is determined that the summit should not just focus on Ukraine but also agree steps to restart US-Russian economic cooperation.

In a brief summary of the Downing Street meeting, British officials said Zelenskyy and Starmer expressed cautious optimism about a truce “as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious” about peace. In a separate statement, Zelenskyy said there had been discussions about the security guarantees required to make any deal “truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killing”.

On Wednesday Starmer co-chaired a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing” – a European-led effort to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine to enforce any deal – where he said there was a “viable” chance of a truce.

On Thursday the prime minister gave Zelenskyy a bear hug in the street outside the door to No 10 in a symbol of continuing British solidarity with the Ukrainian cause. Similar public displays of solidarity followed the disastrous February meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, when the two leaders quarrelled in front of the cameras in the White House.

Further sanctions could be imposed on Russia should the Kremlin fail to engage, and Starmer said the UK was already working on its next package of measures targeting Moscow.

Trump has frequently said he will know if he can achieve peace in Ukraine only by meeting Putin personally. He sets great faith in his personal relationship with the Russian leader, but on Wednesday he played down expectations of what he could do to persuade Putin to relent. At the same time he warned there would be “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire, a veiled threat to increase US sanctions on Russian oil exports.

As Ukraine battles to hold lines, Trump may find Putin difficult to persuade

He has so far held off from imposing such economic pressure on Russia, but by the end of the month the US is due to impose additional tariffs on Indian imports into the US as a punishment for India continuing to buy Russian oil.

The UK would like to see the US consider other, more targeted sanctions, either on the shadow fleet of Russian oil tankers or on refineries that use Russian oil. But Moscow briefed that the Alaska summit, far from leading to extra economic pressure on the Russian economy, would instead include discussion and agreements on new US-Russian economic cooperation, a step that would relieve the pressure on Russian state finances.

Some European leaders took heart from the detailed grasp of the issues shown on the call by the US vice-president, JD Vance, and by hints that Trump could be willing to contribute US assets to a European-led security guarantee for Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement.

The Alaska summit, due to start at 11.30am local time (2030 BST), will include a one-to-one meeting between Trump and Putin, with interpreters, then a wider meeting.

The Russian delegation will include the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov; the defence minister, Andrei Belousov; the finance minister, Anton Siluanov; the head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev; and Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov.

ATTACHMENT TEN – FROM INDEPENDENT U.K.

TRUMP’S FINALLY UNLEASHED – WHAT IS THE WORLD’S PAIN TOLERANCE?

Donald Trump is finally getting almost everything that he wants. But the question is, how will everyone else respond to that?

On Wednesday, he arrived at the Kennedy Center and announced that he would host the annual honors award ceremony, a first for a president. For a president who loves the theatrical, it’s definitely a coup, especially given that he removed the board members that Joe Biden nominated before the new board made him chairman.

But while Trump taking over the performing arts center is campy and even a bit weird, it shows how Trump feels no scruples and that he can finally realize the vision he wants for the country.

The only question at this point is what is the rest of the world’s pain tolerance.

Earlier this week, Trump made the unprecedented announcement that he would seize control of the Washington, D.C. police department and deploy the National Guard onto the streets of the nation’s capital.

Trump has long griped about crime and in many ways, it’s a chance for him to live out the vision he wanted during the 2020 George Floyd protests, where he could deploy active duty troops onto the streets of American cities.

But that’s not the only area where Trump has finally removed the handcuffs. Last week, after a prolonged pause, Trump resumed his “Liberation Day” tariffs.

Trump is brooking no opposition from the lords of finance. Earlier this month, he responded to a poor jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics by sacking the chief statistician and nominating E.J. Antoni, an alumnus of the conservative Heritage Foundation, the think tank behind Project 2025.

Then there’s the matter of Russia and Vladimir Putin. On Friday, he will host the Russian authoritarian in Alaska as he hopes to bring an end to Moscow’s war in Ukraine. This will be a stark contrast to the 2018 summit in Helsinki, when he seemed to brush off American intelligence and sided with Putin’s denial that Russia intervened in the 2016 election.

ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – FROM GUK (TIMELINE)

TRUMP SAYS PUTIN ‘WANTS TO GET IT DONE’ AT TOMORROW’S ALASKA SUMMIT, AS HE FLOATS IDEA OF SECOND MEETING WITH ZELENSKYY – AS IT HAPPENED

US president indicates in interview that any deal would not be made without Zelenskyy ahead of Friday’s meeting in Alaska

 Updated 4h ago

·

5h ago

Closing summary

·

6h ago

Trump: Second Putin meeting will be 'very, very important'

·

7h ago

'We'll do best we can,' Trump promises ahead of Putin summit

·

7h ago

Security guarantees, territorial disputes all part of talk about Ukraine, Rubio says

·

7h ago

'25%' chance meeting with Putin will end in failure if there's no second meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump says

·

7h ago

Trump says Putin 'wants to get it done,' as he once again floats another meeting with Zelenskyy

·

7h ago

No plans to sign documents at Alaska summit, Kremlin reportedly says, warning against predicting outcome of talks

·

8h ago

Serbia see clashes between pro-government groups and anti-graft protesters

·

9h ago

Russian senior delegation to Alaska shows Putin means business — snap analysis

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9h ago

Climate change exacerbating severity of fires across Europe, experts say

·

9h ago

Spain activates EU civil protection mechanism to get EU help with wildfires

·

10h ago

What to expect from Alaska summit? — snap analysis

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10h ago

Alaska meeting presents 'viable chance to make progress' if Putin is serious, UK says after Starmer-Zelenskyy talks

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10h ago

Security guarantees part of discussions with UK, Zelenskyy says after meeting Starmer

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10h ago

EU sees no justificiation for Chinese sanctions on Lithuanian banks

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10h ago

EU gets new proposals from US on trade, continues to work to progress text

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11h ago

Putin holds meeting with top officials to prepare for Trump, praising 'sincere efforts' from US to end Ukraine war

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11h ago

EU 'welcomes' suggestion US could join in providing security guarantees for Ukraine

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11h ago

Trump will debrief Ukraine, EU after his meeting with Putin, EU says

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11h ago

Finland's Stubb praised for 'unexpected bond' with Trump that helps Europe get its points across

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11h ago

Germany's Merz gets measured praise for Ukraine diplomacy, but Nato's Rutte gets most credit

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12h ago

Kremlin looks to go beyond 'peace deal,' hopes for reset in US-Russia relations — snap analysis

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12h ago

Zelenskyy visits Starmer in London — in pictures

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12h ago

More details on Trump-Putin talks emerge, with plans for joint press conference

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13h ago

Big hug from Starmer for Zelenskyy in another show of solidarity, but Kyiv has no illusions about Trump - snap analysis

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13h ago

Zelenskyy arrives at Downing Street for talks with Starmer

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13h ago

Spain wildfires are ‘clear warning’ of climate emergency, minister says

·

13h ago

Why are Spanish politicians in denial about deadly heatwaves — comment

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14h ago

Third person dies in wildfires in Spain

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14h ago

Morning opening: And now we wait

BY Tom Ambrose (now) and Jakub Krupa (earlier)

Thu 14 Aug 2025 12.55 EDT

07.05 EDT

Putin holds meeting with top officials to prepare for Trump, praising 'sincere efforts' from US to end Ukraine war

We are also getting a bit more on the Russian preparations for the summit in Alaska, with Tass reporting that president Vladimir Putin held a meeting with some of the country’s top officials to prepare for the meeting with Trump.

Reuters reported that following the meeting, Putin said the US administration was making “sincere efforts” to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

The Russian president also reportedly suggested Moscow and Washington could reach a deal on nuclear arms control that could strengthen peace.

5h ago12.55 EDT

Closing summary

· Russian president Vladimir Putin held a meeting with some of the country’s top officials to prepare for the meeting with Trump. Reuters reported that following the meeting, Putin said the US administration was making “sincere efforts” to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

· Donald Trump has told Fox News Radio that the second meeting between him and Vladimir Putin would be “very, very important”. The US president has indicated that any future meeting, where a deal would be struck on key details such as territory, would involved the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

· The Kremlin, via the Russian news agency Interfax, has said there are no plans to sign documents on the outcome of the summit, and warned it would be “a big mistake” to predict outcome of the talks, Reuters reported.

· US state secretary Marco Rubio said that security guarantees for Ukraine needed to be part of peace talks with Russia, adding he was hopeful of imminent progress towards ending the war, AFP reported. Ahead of the Trump-Putin summit on Friday, Rubio said that “to achieve peace, I think we all recognise that there’ll have to be some conversation about security guarantees.”

· The Trump-Putin summit in Alaska presents “a viable chance to make progress as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious about peace,” Downing Street said in a statement after Starmer’s meeting with Zelenskyy in London.

· The heatwave-fuelled wildfires that have killed three people in Spain over recent days, devouring thousands of hectares of land and forcing thousands of people from their homes, are a “clear warning” of the impact of the climate emergency, the country’s environment minister has said.

· The deadly fires come as southern Europe suffers intense heat that has broken temperature records across the continent – made worse by fossil fuel pollution that traps sunlight and heats the planet – and which has dried out vegetation.

· The EU has said it sees no justification for China to sanction two Lithuanian banks in retaliation against the bloc’s sanctions on two Chinese banks as part of the 18th package of sanctions on Russia. “We don’t believe those countermeasures have any justification and therefore we call on China to remove them now,” said EU spokesperson Olof Gill.

5h ago12.34 EDT

European leaders have praised President Donald Trump for agreeing to allow US military support for a force they are mustering to police any future peace in Ukraine – a move that vastly improves the chances of success for an operation that could prove essential for the country’s security.

The leaders said Trump offered American military backup for the European “reassurance force” during a call they held with him ahead of his planned summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday, AP reported. They did not say what the assistance might involve and Trump himself has not publicly confirmed any support.

The effectiveness of the operation, drawn up by the coalition of about 30 countries supporting Ukraine, hinges on the deterrent effect of US air power or other military equipment that European armed forces do not have, or have only in short supply.

No US troops would be involved, but the threat of American air power, if needed, behind the European force would likely help to dissuade Russian troops from testing Europe’s resolve.

Senior Russian officials have repeatedly rejected the idea of European peacekeepers in Ukraine, even though a traditional UN-style peacekeeping force is not being planned.

6h ago11.52 EDT

Trump: Second Putin meeting will be 'very, very important'

Donald Trump has told Fox News Radio that the second meeting between him and Vladimir Putin would be “very, very important”.

The US president has indicated that any future meeting, where a deal would be struck on key details such as territory, would involved the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal. And I don’t want to use the word ‘divvy’ things up. But you know, to a certain extent, it’s not a bad term, okay?” Trump told Fox News Radio.

Jakub Krupa

That’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today, but Tom Ambrose is here to take you through the late afternoon and bring you the latest ahead of the Trump-Putin summit tomorrow.

7h ago10.59 EDT

'We'll do best we can,' Trump promises ahead of Putin summit

Meanwhile, Trump’s interview with Fox News Radio has just wrapped up, with Trump signing off with a promise on tomorrow’s Alaska meeting with Putin:

“We’ll do the best we can, and I think we’ll have a good result in the end.”

Updated at 11.10 EDT

7h ago10.43 EDT

Security guarantees, territorial disputes all part of talk about Ukraine, Rubio says

Separately, US state secretary Marco Rubio said that security guarantees for Ukraine needed to be part of peace talks with Russia, adding he was hopeful of imminent progress towards ending the war, AFP reported.

Ahead of the Trump-Putin summit on Friday, Rubio said that “to achieve peace, I think we all recognise that there’ll have to be some conversation about security guarantees.”

“There’ll have to be some conversation about ... territorial disputes and claims, and what they’re fighting over,” he added, Reuters said.

On a future ceasefire, he said, “we’ll see what’s possible tomorrow.

Let’s see how the talks go. And we’re hopeful.

7h ago10.29 EDT

'25%' chance meeting with Putin will end in failure if there's no second meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump says

Trump got also asked if he thought there was a chance of the meeting ending in failure.

In response, he said he saw it as 25%.

He said the main aim of tomorrow’s summit was to set up a second meeting – involving Zelenskyy – to make a deal, comparing it to “a chess game.”

He argued it would include “a give and take as to boundaries, lands.”

He then said:

“There is a 25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting, in which case I will [return to] run the country and we have made America great again already in six months.”

He also suggested he could follow up with sanctions on Russia in that scenario.

Updated at 10.32 EDT

7h ago10.18 EDT

Trump says Putin 'wants to get it done,' as he once again floats another meeting with Zelenskyy

US president Donald Trump is speaking to Fox News Radio right now, and he has just said that he thought Russian president Vladimir Putin “wants to get it done” at tomorrow’s summit in Alaska.

Asked if his threats of sanctions may have influenced Putin’s decision to agree to a meeting, he said:

“Everything has an impact,” as he added that secondary tariffs against India “essentially took them out of buying oil from Russia.”

“Certainly, when you lose your second largest customer and you’re probably going to lose your first largest customer, I think that probably has a role,” he said.

Trump got also asked if he was ready to provide “economic incentives” to Russia to stop fighting in Ukraine, but he declined to say, explaining he wouldn’t “want to play my hand in public.”

He repeatedly said that Russia had “a tremendous potential,” with value in “oil and gas, a very profitable business.”

But Trump stressed he was primarily interested in making progress with Putin, and he would then immediately call Zelenskyy to “get him over to wherever we are going to meet.”

“We have an idea of three different locations,” he said, adding “including the possibility, because it would be by far the easiest, of staying in Alaska.”

“If it’s a bad meeting, I’m not calling anybody. I’m going home.

But if it’s a good meeting, I’m going to call President Zelensky and the European leaders.”

Addressing the reports he could hold a joint press conference with Putin, he said:

“I’m going to have a press conference. I don’t know if it’s going to be a joint. We haven’t even discussed it. I think it might be nice to have a joint, and then separates.”

But he then added that he would hold a press conference in any scenario, even if the talks collapse.

Updated at 10.32 EDT

7h ago10.09 EDT

No plans to sign documents at Alaska summit, Kremlin reportedly says, warning against predicting outcome of talks

We are just getting some lines from Russia in what appears to be an attempt to manage expectations ahead of tomorrow’s Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska.

The Kremlin, via the Russian news agency Interfax, has said there are no plans to sign documents on the outcome of the summit, and warned it would be “a big mistake” to predict outcome of the talks, Reuters reported.

8h ago09.47 EDT

Serbia see clashes between pro-government groups and anti-graft protesters

In other news across Europe, the situation in Serbia merits renewed attention as large groups of pro-government supporters, most wearing masks, confronted groups taking part in long-running anti-graft protests run by student movements, AFP reported.

AFP noted that the worst violence was reported in parts of Belgrade and Novi Sad, where the protest movement first began, with dozens injured and arrested.

One man, later identified as a military police officer, fired a pistol into the air as protesters approached the ruling party’s offices in Novi Sad, causing panic.

Footage also showed supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party launching fireworks at protesters gathered outside the party’s headquarters there.

An image taken from video shows fireworks flying as clashes erupted at protests in Vrbas, Serbia. Photograph: AP

Since November, near-daily protests have taken place over the collapse of a train station in Novi Sad. The tragedy, which killed 16 people, soon became a flashpoint as people across the country seized on it to demand greater government transparency and express their broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s increasingly authoritarian rule.

‘We’ve proved that change is possible’ – but Serbia protesters unsure of next move

Read more

The agency said that over the past nine months, thousands of mostly peaceful, student-led demonstrations have been held, some attracting hundreds of thousands.

But it added that this week’s violence however marks a significant escalation and indicates the increasing strain on Aleksandar Vučić’s populist government, in power for 13 years.

Putin’s delegation has been announced (11:20) and, unsurprisingly, the Russian leader will be flanked by some of the most powerful figures in the Kremlin’s inner circle – seasoned political operators, financial strategists and diplomatic enforcers who have shaped Russia’s foreign and economic policy for more than two decades.

The mix of old-guard loyalists and younger financial power-brokers points to Putin’s aim of wooing Trump’s ear and dangling financial incentives for siding with Moscow on Ukraine.

Notably, alongside a cadre of veteran diplomats, Putin is bringing two prominent economic advisers.

The presence of finance minister Anton Siluanov is particularly striking: he has overseen Russia’s response to sweeping western sanctions, the lifting of which the Kremlin has repeatedly set as a central condition for any peace deal.

9h ago08.53 EDT

Meanwhile, let’s take a closer look at tomorrow’s Trump-Putin summit and at the Russian delegation attending with the Russian president.

Over to our Russian affairs reporter, Pjotr Sauer.

9h ago08.37 EDT

Climate change exacerbating severity of fires across Europe, experts say

The deadly fires come as southern Europe suffers intense heat that has broken temperature records across the continent – made worse by fossil fuel pollution that traps sunlight and heats the planet – and which has dried out vegetation.

“It’s obvious that climate change is exacerbating the severity of fires,” said Eduardo Rojas Briales, a forestry researcher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia and former deputy director general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. “But it’s not responsible to wait for greenhouse gas emissions to drop … as the sole approach to addressing the problem.”

He called for additional policies such as ensuring dead plant material is kept at manageable levels, creating gaps in vegetation, for instance through reversing rural abandonment, and using prescribed burning.

“There is no alternative but to build landscapes … that are truly resilient to fires,” he said.

A report published Thursday by XDI, a climate risk analysis group, found that the climate crisis has doubled the risk of infrastructure damage from forest fires in France, Italy, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria since 1990. It predicted risk would increase further still in future.

“We’re all asking ourselves, how much worse can it get?,” said Karl Mallon, XDI’s head of science and technology.

“According to our latest analysis, a lot.”

Wildfires claim third life in Spain as intense heat continues across Europe

1 of 3NextOldest

Donald Trump

Trump reportedly called Norwegian minister ‘out of the blue’ to ask about Nobel prize

1h ago

ATTACHMENT TWELVE – FROM FOX

REP. GREENE ACCUSES ZELENSKYY OF TRYING TO 'SABOTAGE' TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT WITH DRONE STRIKES ON RUSSIA

Republican lawmaker responds to Ukrainian drone strikes launched hours before Trump-Putin summit

By Bradford Betz Published August 15, 2025 1:50am EDT

There's a reason why Putin decided to invade Ukraine under Joe Biden's presidency, says Katie Pavlich

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., late Thursday took shots at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of trying to sabotage Friday's highly anticipated peace talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin by launching drone strikes on Russia. 

Greene responded to a post on X from the account, "Open Source Intel," which reported that Ukraine had in recent hours launched "one of the largest" drone attacks on Russia. 

"On the eve of the historic peace talks between President Trump and President Putin, Zelensky does this," the Republican lawmaker wrote. "Zelensky doesn't want peace and obviously is trying to sabotage President Trump's heroic efforts to end the war in Ukraine. I pray peace prevails." 

Ukraine launched multiple drone strikes into Russia overnight Thursday, damaging several apartment buildings in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and injuring more than a dozen civilians, according to acting governor of the region, Yuri Slyusar. Two of those wounded were hospitalized in serious condition, he said. 

The Ukrainian strikes came after Russian strikes in Ukraine's Sumy region overnight Wednesday, resulting in multiple injuries, including a 7-year-old girl, per officials. 

Local officials also accused Ukraine of launching a drone strike in Belgorod that injured three people, and another that struck a car in the village of Pristen that killed at least one individual. 

Despite the violence, Trump and Putin are scheduled to meet in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday for a high-stakes summit on the future of the Ukraine war. 

The meeting will mark Putin's first visit to the U.S. since 2015 and the first U.S.-Russia summit since June 2021. 

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S MEETING WITH VLADIMIR PUTIN IN ALASKA

Putin praised the U.S. on Thursday for making "sincere efforts" to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has been raging since early 2022. Appearing on television, the Russian president said the U.S. was "making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict." 

Zelenskyy accused Russia of not being sincere in its intention to wind down the war. 

"This war must be ended. Pressure must be exerted on Russia for the sake of a just peace. Ukraine’s and our partners’ experience must be used to prevent deception by Russia," Zelenskyy said. 

"At present, there is no sign that the Russians are preparing to end the war. Our coordinated efforts and joint actions – of Ukraine, the United States, Europe, and all countries that seek peace – can definitely compel Russia to make peace," he added. 

ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN – FROM FOX

TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING STARTS, WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR

First face-to-face meeting since Russian invasion could last up to seven hours in Anchorage

By Caitlin McFall Published August 15, 2025 3:43pm EDT | Updated 

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday landed in Anchorage, Alaska and have begun their highly anticipated talks in pursuit of ending the war in Ukraine.

The meeting marks the first time leaders from the U.S. and Russia have met in-person since Putin launched his deadly invasion of Ukraine more than three-and-a-half-years ago.

The meeting, which began at approximately 3:30 pm EST, is expected to last several hours, with initial estimates ranging roughly four hours, though the Kremlin on Friday signaled the talks could last up to seven hours. 

NATO DEFENSE MINISTER SIGNALS ‘ABSOLUTE DISTRUST’ THAT PUTIN WANTS ANY PEACE DEAL AHEAD OF TRUMP SUMMIT

Trump said ahead of the meeting that he would not enter into a deal or grant territorial concessions regarding Ukraine, though questions mounted in the lead up to the high-level talks about whether Washington would forge a minerals deal with Moscow. 

The president told reporters on Thursday he would wait to see how the talks play out before he would say if he may pursue a mining agreement – the optics of which remain unclear as they could potentially benefit Russia’s economy, and therefore Putin’s war chest. 

Though notably, both the U.S. and Russia saw their top business negotiators travel with their corresponding delegations as U.S. Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Scott Lutnick – both of whom have engaged in top-level trade talks – as well as Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, were reported to have traveled for the trip.

TRUMP READY TO ‘BRING THE HAMMER’ ON PUTIN IF HE DOESN’T COOPERATE AT SUMMIT

The White House confirmed that alongside the president and his top economic officials, Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also made the roughly 8-hour journey to Anchorage for "expanded bilateral" discussions and a "working lunch."

Though only Witkoff and Rubio will be in the meeting alongside Trump, while Putin is expected to be accompanied by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov was also reported to have made the roughly eight-and-a-half-hour flight, but it is unclear if he will be sitting in on the meeting with Putin and Trump.

Trump said he will call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders immediately following his discussions with Putin.

It remains unclear if Trump and Putin will address the press following the high-level meetings.

ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN – FROM FOX

TRUMP SAYS HE 'WON'T BE HAPPY' IF PUTIN DOES NOT AGREE TO A CEASEFIRE IN UKRAINE DURING ALASKA SUMMIT

Trump says he 'may have to start liking' Hillary Clinton if she nominates him for Nobel Peace Prize.

By Morgan Phillips  Published August 15, 2025 4:23pm EDT

President Donald Trump opened up about what he would like to accomplish in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Air Force One.

President Donald Trump said Friday he "won’t be happy" if he does not walk away from his meeting with President Vladimir Putin with a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. 

Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier he doesn’t like to have "too many expectations," but "I’d like to have a ceasefire." 

"I wouldn’t be thrilled if I didn’t get it," he said. "Everyone says, ‘You're not going to get a ceasefire. You – it'll take place on the second meeting,’ … but I'm not going to be happy with that."

The president said he might cancel talks entirely if Friday’s summit does not go well. 

"I won't be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire. Now, I – I say this, and I said it from the beginning: This is really setting the table today. We're going to have another meeting, if things work out, which will be very soon, or we're not going to have any more meetings at all, maybe ever."

ZELENSKYY, AHEAD OF TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING, SAYS THERE IS 'NO SIGN' RUSSIA WANTS TO END THE WAR

Trump spoke while flying on Air Force One toward Anchorage, Alaska, where he and his team met with the Russian delegation in the first face-to-face meeting with Putin of the new administration.

Trump said that he would not be negotiating peace on Ukraine’s behalf, but would rather "set the table" for negotiations between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Well, look, it's not for me to negotiate a deal for Ukraine, but I can certainly set the table to negotiate the deal," he said. "Our next meeting will have President Zelenskyy and President Putin and probably me."

PRESIDENT TRUMP CONFIDENT PUTIN WANTS PEACE WITH UKRAINE, THINKS HE'S 'HAD ENOUGH' OF WAR

Trump also added that he "may have to start liking" Hillary Clinton, after the former Democratic presidential candidate said she would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he negotiated a peace deal and did not "capitulate" to Russia. 

"That was very nice. I may have to start liking her again," Trump said. 

Clinton, a former Secretary of State, said that there are several things Trump needs to get Putin to agree to if he were to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. 

"But maybe this is the opportunity to make it clear that there must be a ceasefire, there will be no exchange of territory, and that, over a period of time, Putin should be actually withdrawing from the territory he seized in order to demonstrate his good faith efforts, let us say, not to threaten European security," she said.

ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN – FROM TASS

PUTIN-TRUMP TALKS CONTINUE FOR OVER HOUR

The two leaders began talking before arriving in Alaska on the airfield

ANCHORAGE /Alaska/, August 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump have been talking for over an hour. The meeting is taking place at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

The talks are currently being held in a "three-on-three" format, but the two leaders began talking before arriving in Alaska on the airfield. Putin and Trump left their planes nearly simultaneously and got into the US leader's Cadillac limousine, where they talked one-on-one on the way to the talks.

Putin's plane landed at the military base at 6:54 p.m. GMT (10:54 a.m. local time). Shortly before that, Trump's "Air Force One" also landed. The meeting ceremony at the airfield began at 7:10 p.m. GMT. Official talks with representatives of both delegations began 15 minutes later.

Ukrainian troops receive orders to step up shelling of LPR — governor

According to Leonid Pasechnik, there is also a possibility of an increase in sabotage operations

Yesterday, 20:50

For breakthrough in peaceful settlement, Zelensky must be ousted — Rada lawmaker

Ukraine needs "a leader who is ready to conduct an honest dialogue", Artyom Dmytruk said

Today, 11:40

Russian lawmaker believes Russia-US summit in Alaska can become a historical milestone

Russia and the US are two leading nuclear powers, the nature of their interaction largely determines stability and global security, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and leader of the LDPR, said

2 hours ago

Putin-Trump meeting to be held in three-on-three format, involving ministers — White House

Karoline Leavitt said that Donald Trump will be joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff

Today, 11:08

Trump says US may give Ukraine security guarantees but not in the form of NATO

Doanld Trump ruled out the scenario of Kiev joining NATO

Today, 04:14

Europe, Kiev 'holding their breath' on eve of Putin-Trump summit — El Pais

According to the report, the fear is that, despite promises from Washington, Vladimir Putin will end up bringing Donald Trump over to his side

ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN – FROM DW

TRUMP, PUTIN BEGIN ALASKA SUMMIT ON UKRAINE WAR

Kalika Mehta | Rana Taha AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa | Richard Connor AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa | Karl Sexton AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa

Published 15 hours ago last updated 7 minutes ago

· US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are meeting at a military base in Alaska

· Trump greeted Putin with a handshake on a red carpet laid out on the tarmac

· Zelenskyy says summit should "open up a real path toward a just peace"

· Yulia Navalnaya calls for the release of political prisoners from Russia and Ukraine

'Europeans are trying to stay in conversation'

By Kalika Mehta | Dmytro Hubenko Editor

As US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, DW's Chief International Editor Richard Walker said the European powers continue to seek a place at the table in the peace talks for the war in Ukraine.

"They are just trying to stay in the conversation as much as possible," Walker said. "They had a video conference with Trump earlier in the week."

"Wednesday was evidence that the Europeans are in a better place than they were with Trump earlier in the year," he added.

Walker explained that European nations' commitment to increasing defense spending to appease Trump has strengthened their position in discussions about European security.

"There’s also been a trade deal between the EU and the United States which has reset the trading relationship between the two," Walker added. "It’s seen by many in Europe as very unfair but also essential to keep Trump on side."

Walker stressed that Europeans have gone to great lengths to keep Trump happy and bring him back on board.

"This has earned them more of a seat at the table than they would have had without that," he concluded.

https://p.dw.com/p/4z532

2 hours ago

Trump and Putin sit down but take no questions from reporters

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin sat together in a room at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson after their arrival in Alaska. 

Against a backdrop bearing the slogan "Pursuing Peace," the US and Russian presidents sat with members of their respective delegations without taking any questions from reporters or making any statements.

The meeting then commenced without the presence of the press.

https://p.dw.com/p/4z4ks

2 hours ago

Trump, Putin shake hands after landing in Alaska

Donald Trump has greeted Vladimir Putin with a handshake on the red carpet in Alaska.

Putin appeared to crack a joke as the two leaders met on the tarmac before briefly posing for photos standing side-by-side.

After not taking any questions from reporters, they left the stage and got into a waiting car together, and could be seen smiling and chatting to each other in the backseat as the vehicle drove off.

2 hours ago

Trump-Putin talks expanded to include top aides

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the previously planned one-on-one meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will now be a three-on-three session.

The US president is to be joined by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who arrived in Alaska earlier, is likely to be one of the team alongside Putin.

According to the Kremlin, the meeting will be followed by talks between the full delegations and continue over lunch. The two leaders are expected to hold a joint press conference.

ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN – FROM REUTERS

PUTIN, TRUMP DISCUSS FATE OF UKRAINE AS SUMMIT GETS UNDER WAY

By Steve Holland, Andrew Osborn and Darya Korsunskaya August 15, 2025 4:41 PM EDT Updated 48 mins ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met face-to-face in Alaska on Friday in a high-stakes summit that could determine whether a ceasefire can be reached in the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two.

Ahead of the talks, Trump greeted the Russian leader on a red carpet on the tarmac at a U.S. Air Force base. The two shook hands warmly and touched each other on the arm before riding in Trump's limo to the summit site nearby.

There, the two presidents sat with their respective delegations in their first meeting since 2019. A blue backdrop behind them had the words "Pursuing Peace" printed on it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict with Russia and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine.

Earlier, Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table," he said.

Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: "I want to see a ceasefire rapidly ... I'm not going to be happy if it's not today ... I want the killing to stop."

Trump spoke with Putin in a meeting that also included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

At a subsequent larger, bilateral meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chief of staff Susie Wiles will also join Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war that Putin started will bring peace to the region as well as bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.

For Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy.

Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court, accused of the war crime of deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia denies allegations of war crimes and the Kremlin has dismissed the ICC warrant as null and void. Russia and the United States are not members of the court.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched on its smaller neighbour in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.

A conservative estimate of dead and injured in the war in Ukraine - from both sides combined - totals 1.2 million people, Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said in May.

Item 1 of 9 U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be more important than his encounter with Putin.

Zelenskiy said Friday's summit should open the way for a "just peace" and three-way talks that included him, but added that Russia was continuing to wage war. A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another.

"It's time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States.

'SMART GUY'

Trump said before the summit that there is mutual respect between him and Putin.

"He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time, but so have I ... We get along," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring businesspeople to Alaska.

"But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly.

The United States has had internal discussions on using Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker vessels to support the development of gas and LNG projects in Alaska as one of the possible deals to aim for, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine, given that Putin understood Russia's economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war.

Reuters has previously reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastwards and to lift some Western sanctions. NATO has said Ukraine's future is in the alliance.

Russia, whose war economy is showing strain, is vulnerable to further U.S. sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China and India.

"For Putin, economic problems are secondary to goals, but he understands our vulnerability and costs," the Russian source said.

Putin this week held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control accord to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire in February.

Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Darya Korsunskaya in Moscow; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason in Washington; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones and James Oliphant Editing by Kevin Liffey, Jon Boyle, Frances Kerry, Philippa Fletcher, Rod Nickel

ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – FROM HUFFINGTON POST

TRUMP TREATS WAR CRIMINAL DICTATOR PUTIN LIKE ROYALTY, STILL FAILS TO GET CEASEFIRE

Trump claimed heading into the summit with Russia’s leader that stopping the killing in Ukraine was the top priority.

By S.V. Date Aug 15, 2025, 07:21 PM EDT

President Donald Trump literally rolled out the red carpet for Russia’s accused war criminal dictator on American soil, honored him with a flyover of U.S. military jets, invited him into the presidential limousine to a ride and a laugh and, hours later, apparently ended the meeting without Vladimir Putin’s agreement to stop his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

“There’s no deal until there is a deal,” Trump said at a joint appearance with Putin at the end of three hours of discussions at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, just outside Anchorage, Alaska.

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

Putin spoke for nine minutes, spending much of the time explaining Russian and American cooperation during World War II, the geographic proximity of Alaska and eastern Russia and how nice it was to have Trump as president again.

“It is known that there have been no summits between Russia and the U.S. for four years, and that’s a long time,” Putin said through an interpreter. “This time was very hard for bilateral relations, and let’s be frank, they’ve fallen to the lowest point since the Cold War.”

He said he was grateful that Trump was not as difficult to deal with as his predecessor, Joe Biden, and that he seemed more receptive to hearing Putin’s side of the story regarding his 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“We see the strive of the administration and President Trump personally to help facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, and his strive to get to the crux of the matter to understand this history is precious,” Putin said.

Trump, for his part, returned to one of his favorite grievances about the investigation into the help he received from Putin in winning the 2016 election — which Trump has for years falsely called a “hoax.”

“We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. That made it tougher to deal with, but he understood it. I think he’s probably seen things like that during the course of his career,” Trump said. “He’s seen it all, but we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax, but what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country in terms of the business and all of the things that would like to have dealt with.”

Trump spoke for less than four minutes on stage, and although the appearance had been billed as a press conference, neither man took any questions.

Putin did, however, invite Trump to his country. “Next time, in Moscow,” Putin said, in English.

Putin was charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2023 for his vicious attacks against Ukraine, faces arrest in most other countries and needed a waiver of U.S. sanctions for him to travel to the United States.

Trump, nevertheless, treated him like royalty, starting with the granting of the meeting in the first place. American soldiers were seen kneeling on the tarmac to secure a red carpet at the foot of the stairs of Putin’s plane. Trump greeted him warmly, even clapping for him as he approached. As the two walked to a podium for a photo, a B-2 stealth bomber and four fighter jets roared overhead in salute.

Then, Trump invited him into his presidential limousine and Putin agreed, abandoning his own car to ride with Trump for the short drive from the airfield to the meeting room. The two were seen laughing through the window. According to White House officials, no interpreters were in the limo with them.

On the flight to Alaska earlier Friday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he would not be happy if the summit failed to produce a ceasefire.

“I want to see a ceasefire rapidly. I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today,” he said.

What happens next is unclear. Trump said he would call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and America’s European allies to brief them. He had originally hoped to set up a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy or among the three of them together.

Friday’s was Trump’s second high-level summit with Putin, with both ending without any real substance.

ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – FROM MOTHER JONES

THE TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT WAS A WIN FOR RUSSIA

Trump promised to end the fighting on “Day One.” Now, he won’t even push for a ceasefire.

By Ruth Murai

During his campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would end the Russia-Ukraine war in the first 24 hours of his presidency. Eight months in, he has left a summit with President Vladimir Putin without a deal.

Trump went into Friday’s meeting in Anchorage with the goal of securing a ceasefire, telling reporters on Air Force One, “I want to see a ceasefire rapidly. I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.” Putin has resisted calls for a ceasefire, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with other European leaders, have stressed the importance of a commitment to stop fighting in order to begin negotiations for a lasting peace deal. On Wednesday, Trump promised “very severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire.

After the meeting with Putin, Trump backtracked on the idea of a ceasefire entirely on Truth Social. “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” he wrote.

Without a demand for a ceasefire, Russia can continue to fight in Ukraine without concern for US sanctions. Leaders in Moscow have celebrated the meeting as a victory for Russia.

In an interview with Sean Hannity following the summit, Trump praised Putin, saying, “I always had a great relationship with President Putin, and we would have done great things together.” He went on to complain about the “Russia Russia Russia hoax” getting in the way of their potential partnership.

Trump has insisted that he wants to see the killings in Ukraine end, but it’s also clear he stands to gain from the end of the war, as my colleague David Corn wrote in May:

It seemed rather obvious that Trump wanted the war to end not because he was outraged by Putin’s vicious and vile assault on democracy and decency but so he would be free to work with the Russian autocrat for whom he has expressed admiration for over a decade.

Trump has for years been yearning for an out-in-the-open bromance with Putin—perhaps like the profitable relationships he has forged with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other nations. But this desire has been impeded by the Ukraine war and also complicated by an inconvenient fact: Trump would not likely have reached the White House without Putin’s assistance.

For nine years, Trump has done a masterful job of suppressing what was perhaps the most important story of the 2016 race: Moscow attacked the US election to assist Trump, and Trump and his crew aided and abetted that assault by denying it was happening. With his relentless ranting about “Russia, Russia, Russia,” the “Russia hoax,” and the “witch hunt”—propaganda enthusiastically embraced and loudly amplified by right-wing media and GOP leaders—Trump has essentially erased from public discourse Putin’s successful subversion of an US election and Trump’s own traitorous complicity.

Zelenskyy will travel to Washington for a meeting with Trump on Monday. In a statement on Telegram, the Ukrainian president wrote that “the killings must stop as soon as possible, and the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the air.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY – FROM TIME

TRUMP SAYS NO DEAL REACHED WITH PUTIN AS ALASKA SUMMIT ENDS EARLIER THAN EXPECTED

by Nik Popli and Brian Bennett Updated: Aug 15, 2025 8:36 PM ET

President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States and Russia “didn’t get there” on a deal regarding the war in Ukraine, even as he called his three-hour meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin “extremely productive.” The meeting—which Trump had billed as “high stakes”—ended earlier than expected and on a deflated note for the U.S., with no concrete steps reached toward a ceasefire, and Trump cutting their joint press conference short. The two said they would meet again, possibly in Moscow.

The high-profile summit in Anchorage, the first in-person encounter between the two leaders since 2019, was aimed at exploring a path toward a cease-fire in the war in Ukraine, even though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had not been invited. After their meeting concluded, both Trump and Putin spoke only briefly to reporters and neither took any questions.

Putin seemed to control the appearance of the proceedings in front of the press. Typically at such summits, the host speaks first and welcomes the visiting leader. But when the two leaders stepped up to the twin lecterns, Trump put his hand out to indicate Putin should speak first. Putin then held the floor for eight minutes, but did not indicate the two men had made progress on Trump’s chief reason for meeting: moving toward an end to the war in Ukraine. Putin said the negotiations had been held in a “constructive atmosphere of mutual respect” and he flattered Trump by saying he agreed with Trump’s repeated assertion that if Trump had remained President for a second term, Putin would not have rolled tanks into Ukraine’s capital Kiev.

“We have built a very good and businesslike and trustworthy contact and have every reason to believe that moving down this path we can come to the end of the conflict in Ukraine,” Putin said. But he gave no details on how that would happen.

Putin appeared to warn European leaders and Zelensky to stay out of the way of what was a work-in-progress, even though the fate of Ukraine impacts them directly. “We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive all this in a constructive manner and will not create any obstacles—will not make attempts to disrupt the emerging progress through provocations and behind-the-scenes intrigues,” Putin said.

After Putin finished his monologue, Trump spoke for just three minutes and cut the press conference short without taking any questions from the room full of reporters. Trump said he had “always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir.” But, Trump continued, the investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election—what Trump calls the “Russia hoax”—had gotten in the way of the two leaders working together during his first term. “We were interfered with by Russia Russia Russia hoax,” Trump said.

On the Ukraine war, Trump said he and Putin are “going to try to get this over with” and stop thousands of people being killed each week. “I’m going to start making a few phone calls and telling them what happened," Trump said, referring to Zelensky and European leaders.

But Trump made it clear that more meetings would be needed. “We’ll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much Vladimir,” Trump said.

“And next time in Moscow,” Putin unexpectedly interjected.

“Ooh that’s an interesting one,” Trump replied. “I don’t know. I’ll get a little heat on that one. But I could see it possibly happening.”

Earlier Friday, after the two leaders had landed in Anchorage, they smiled and shook hands as they greeted each other on a tarmac. Trump and Putin then made a highly unusual move for leaders whose countries are widely viewed as adversaries: they both got in the backseat of Trump’s armored presidential limousine—with no staff or translators present—to reach the meeting space.

Inside the meeting room, the two leaders were seated alongside members of their respective inner circles in front of a blue backdrop that had the words “Pursuing Peace” printed on it. Putin looked visibly uncomfortable as reporters shouted questions before the meeting, appearing to shrug and make faces before shouting back inaudible remarks.

The summit had been framed as potentially determine the trajectory of the war and paving the way for future negotiations between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky, who had warned that he was counting on “a strong position from America.” Trump had previously warned Putin of “very severe consequences” if a ceasefire is not reached and said he’s prepared to “walk away” from the talks if they do not go well.

The negotiations were originally planned as a one-on-one meeting between Trump and his Russian counterpart, but were changed at the last minute to include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and two of Putin’s aides, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, turning the talks into a three-on-three format that could allow for greater clarity on what happened during the meeting as both sides offer their own narratives.

Read More: Why Trump’s Summit in Alaska Cannot End Putin’s War in Ukraine

Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Alaska, Trump said that a potential agreement with Russia was not “set in stone” and that territorial swaps with Ukraine would be “discussed” during the meeting.

“I want to see a ceasefire rapidly,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be today. But I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.”

Just before Trump and Putin arrived in Alaska, Zelensky said in a video statement posted on social media that Russian military strikes were continuing throughout Ukraine on Friday, and called for a follow-up meeting in the future with all three leaders. “On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well,” he said. “And that speaks volumes.”

Read More: Zelensky on Trump, Putin, and the Endgame in Ukraine

The Trump Administration had characterized the meeting as a “listening exercise” for Trump to better understand Putin’s conditions for ending the war in Ukraine.

Before landing in Alaska, Trump suggested renewed economic engagement between the U.S. and Russia could be on the horizon should peace negotiations yield tangible results.“I noticed he’s bringing a lot of business people from Russia, and that’s good,” Trump said. “I like that because they want to do business, but they’re not doing business until we get the war settled.”

Russia found itself estranged from much of the global economy following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as sweeping sanctions and diplomatic pressure from the U.S., Europe, and allied nations have left Moscow largely isolated from major markets and financial systems.

Trump’s suggestion of easing economic restrictions has drawn sharp criticism from European allies, who warn that any premature normalization could undermine the unified Western stance on sanctions and harm Ukraine’s position in ongoing negotiations.

Some analysts and Congressional Republicans, including Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Don Bacon of Nebraska, have also warned that such a move risks rewarding Putin’s invasion by effectively legitimizing Russia’s territorial gains and military aggression.

When asked by TIME in the Oval Office on Thursday whether his offering incentives to Russia to bring about peace might inadvertently reward Putin for his invasion of Ukraine, Trump responded, “I don’t see it as a reward.”

The summit was being closely monitored in Ukraine and across Europe for any sign that the long-standing conflict may finally begin moving toward resolution. The Kremlin has expressed its desire for Ukraine to hand over swaths of its territory—particularly areas in the south and east, which Putin’s army has failed to fully occupy.

Before the summit on Friday, Trump suggested he would not negotiate on behalf of Ukraine, particularly over whether to engage in territorial swaps with Russia. Zelensky has repeatedly said he is not willing to cede any territory to Russia, insisting that such a move would “gift their land to the occupier." European leaders have warned that giving Russia land could embolden it to invade other countries.

“We are counting on America,” Zelensky said in a social media post on Friday. “The key thing is that this meeting should open up a real path toward a just peace and a substantive discussion between leaders in a trilateral format—Ukraine, the United States, and the Russian side. It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia.”

The summit also gave Putin the chance to appeal to Trump’s business interests. Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Kirill Dmitriev, a senior economic negotiator and head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, were among those who accompanied Putin to Alaska.

Read More: The Secret White House Backchannel That Paved the Way For Trump’s Summit With Putin

Asked if he would be discussing business opportunities with Russia during the meeting, Trump said: “If we make progress, I would discuss it, because that’s one of the things that they would like; they’d like to get a piece of what I built in terms of the economy.”

It’s unclear what kind of business deals Trump could use as leverage to resolve the war, but the President has previously threatened “severe consequences” if Putin doesn’t agree to end the conflict, including possible secondary sanctions on countries importing Russian oil and gas. 

Trump told reporters earlier Friday that he believed “something” will come of the summit in Alaska and praised his relationship with Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine has resulted in tens of thousands of civilians killed and millions displaced.

“Look, he’s a smart guy. Been doing it for a long time, but so have I. I’ve been doing it for a long time, and here we are: We’re President[s],” Trump said on his way to the summit. “We get along. There’s a good respect level on both sides and I think something’s going to come of it.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE – FROM GUARDIAN U.K.

TIMELINE

Zelenskyy to fly to Washington as Merz says US ready to be part of Ukraine security guarantees – as it happened

·

6h ago

Closing summary

·

7h ago

US ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine, Germany's chancellor says

·

7h ago

Putin told Trump he could relax some territorial claims in exchange for Donetsk region – report

·

7h ago

European leaders invited to Monday’s Washington meeting with Zelenskyy, European officials say

·

8h ago

Two killed in Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's Kursk region, Russian governor says

·

8h ago

'Coalition of the willing' leaders to meet on Sunday, French president's office says

·

9h ago

Zelenskyy warns Russia may try to step up attacks in coming days

·

9h ago

Ukrainians label summit as 'useless meeting'

·

10h ago

Security guarantees 'essential', says European Commission president

·

10h ago

Zelenskyy: both Europe and US should provide Ukraine security guarantees

·

10h ago

Security guarantees "most interesting developments" from Alaska summit, Italian PM says

·

11h ago

Trump and European leaders discussed security guarantees for Ukraine

·

11h ago

Starmer: Trump's efforts have brought us closer to ending war in Ukraine

·

11h ago

European Council pledges to back Ukraine in joint statement on Trump-Putin summit

·

12h ago

Russian forces take Ukrainian villages of Kolodyazi and Vorone, state media says

·

12h ago

Trump says if meeting with Zelenskyy 'works out', US will schedule talks with Putin

·

12h ago

Speculation online about air ceasefire

·

13h ago

Factory blast in Russia's Ryazan kills 11, injures 130

·

13h ago

European leaders speak with Trump post-Alaska summit

·

13h ago

Trump: 'I think a fast deal is better than a ceasefire'

·

13h ago

Medvedev: negotiations possible during Russian war effort

·

13h ago

Zelenskyy to meet Trump on Monday

·

14h ago

Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Washington on Monday – reports

·

14h ago

Summary so far

·

14h ago

No discussion of a Trump-Putin-Zelenskyy meeting - Kremlin aide

·

15h ago

Trump speaks to Zelenskyy, Nato leaders, White House says

·

18h ago

Interim summary

·

18h ago

In 2024 debate, Harris told Trump that Putin 'would eat you for lunch' in Ukraine talks

·

19h ago

Trump claims Putin told him 2020 election 'was rigged'

·

20h ago

Trump says his advice to Zelenskyy is 'make a deal'

·

20h ago

'Wars are very bad; I seem to have an ability to end them', Trump boasts after failure to broker Ukraine ceasefire

·

20h ago

Trump boasts to Hannity that meeting with Putin was 'a 10'

·

20h ago

'Next time in Moscow': Putin invites Trump to Russia for next round of talks

·

21h ago

'I won't be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire', Trump tells Fox en route to summit,

·

21h ago

After summit ends with a whimper, Trump turns to Sean Hannity to make sense of it all

·

21h ago

Fox News calls it 'really stunning' that Putin spoke first on US soil

·

22h ago

Trump: 'No deal until there's a deal'

·

22h ago

Trump-Putin news conference abruptly ends with no questions from reporters and no details of agreement

·

22h ago

Trump calls meeting with Putin 'extremely productive' but says more needs to be done to end war in Ukraine

·

22h ago

Putin says he reached an agreement with Trump

·

22h ago

Putin speaks first at the joint news conference in Alaska

·

22h ago

Trump-Putin summit news conference begins

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22h ago

Kremlin says Putin's talks with Trump are over

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23h ago

White House edits out Trump's applause for Putin in social media clip

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24h ago

Ukrainians mock Trump for rolling out the red carpet for Putin

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1d ago

'On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well,' Zelenskyy says from Kyiv

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1d ago

Trump-Putin meeting is under way

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1d ago

Trump and Putin begin summit, joined by respective delegations

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1d ago

Trump and Putin greet each other as summit begins

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1d ago

Putin to be joined by Russian cabinet officials at summit

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1d ago

Putin lands in Alaska ahead of summit

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1d ago

Emotions run high in frontline Ukrainian city over ceding land to Russia

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1d ago

Trump-Putin meeting no longer one-on-one, press secretary says

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1d ago

Trump lands in Anchorage, Alaska

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1d ago

The view from Alaska: meeting could prove a win-win for Trump and Putin

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1d ago

Russian government plane lands ahead of summit

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1d ago

Trump's pivotal meeting with Putin to begin shortly

From 7h ago

10.32 EDT

US ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine, Germany's chancellor says

The United States is ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine, German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Saturday after a summit in Alaska between the US president, Donald Trump, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ended without a ceasefire deal.

Merz was speaking to the German public broadcaster ZDF after being briefed together with other European leaders by Trump on his talks with Putin.

Updated at 10.35 EDT

6h ago11.20 EDT

Closing summary

It is almost 6.30pm in Kyiv and Moscow. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Russia-Ukraine war coverage here.

Here’s a recap of the developments from today:

· Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet president Trump in Washington on Monday after Trumps’s summit with Putin resulted in no ceasefire deal. The US and Russian leaders met on a red carpet laid down for them at a US military base in the former Russian territory of Alaska, and spent about three hours in private talks, with top foreign policy aides, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Regarding the upcoming meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump wrote in a post on social media platform Truth Social that, “If it all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”

· Trump publicly dropped plans for an immediate ceasefire he had himself championed for months, instead embracing Putin’s preferred path of pushing through a far-reaching “Peace Agreement” before halting any fighting. “Unfortunately, Trump has taken Putin’s position, and this was Putin’s demand,” Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Reuters on Saturday.

· Speaking to German public broadcaster ZDF, chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday that the United States was ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen also said in a post on X that strong security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe were “essential” in any peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

· Trump’s debriefing to European leaders after the Alaska summit with Putin included discussions about security guarantees for Ukraine, which is outside Nato. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the guarantees would be equivalent to article 5, which states that if a Nato ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this as an armed attack against all members. Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said that the discussion of security guarantees was area where “most interesting developments” happened during the Trump-Putin Alaska summit.

· After a debriefing from president Trump, the European Commission released a joint pledge to back Ukraine, emphasising that “Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We welcome President Trump’s statement that the US is prepared to give security guarantees. The coalition of the willing is ready to play an active role. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries. Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine’s pathway to EU and Nato. It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.”

· Several European leaders lauded Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine. UK prime minister Keir Starmer said in a statement: “President Trump’s efforts have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended.” The Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavský said he was “glad that President Trump is trying to stop the war” but that there has been “propagandistic nonsense about the ‘roots of the conflict’” from Putin in the subsequent press conference.

· European leaders have been invited to attend the Monday meeting with US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing two senior European officials.

· During the Alaska meeting, Putin told Trump that he would freeze the frontline in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for the Donetsk region of Ukraine, according to a Financial Times report. In a statement posted on the social media platform X earlier on Saturday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said: “All issues important to Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine’s participation, and no issue, particularly territorial ones, can be decided without Ukraine.”

· Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia may step up its attacks on Ukraine following the inconclusive Putin-Trump summit and the news that the Ukrainian leader would fly to Washington to meet the US president on Monday.

· Two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Kursk region, the local governor said on Saturday.

· A blast at a factory in the Russian region of Ryazan on Friday killed 11 people and left 130 injured, Russia’s emergencies ministry said on Saturday. Some Russian media outlets reported that the explosion was caused by gunpowder catching fire.

· The Russian defence ministry said its forces had taken Kolodyazi village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to state media reports on Saturday. The Guardian could not independently verify battlefield reports.

· Trump reportedly hand-delivered a letter from his wife, Melania, to Putin at the meeting. The letter raised the plight of children abducted during the war in Ukraine – for which Putin is wanted by the international criminal court – White House officials said, without providing further details.

Updated at 11.26 EDT

7h ago10.32 EDT

US ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine, Germany's chancellor says

The United States is ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine, German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Saturday after a summit in Alaska between the US president, Donald Trump, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ended without a ceasefire deal.

Merz was speaking to the German public broadcaster ZDF after being briefed together with other European leaders by Trump on his talks with Putin.

Putin told Trump he could relax some territorial claims in exchange for Donetsk region – report

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, told Donald Trump that he would freeze the frontline in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the Financial Times reports.

The Russian leader made the request during his meeting with Trump in Alaska on Friday, the FT said, citing four people with direct knowledge of the talks.

In a statement posted on the social media platform X earlier on Saturday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said: “All issues important to Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine’s participation, and no issue, particularly territorial ones, can be decided without Ukraine.”

Updated at 10.47 EDT

7h ago10.06 EDT

Trump sent another fundraising email to supporters where he mentioned meeting with Putin in Alaska on Saturday, according to NBC News reports.

“I met with Putin in Alaska yesterday! After my meeting with him, I need you to answer just one question … Do you still stand with Donald Trump?” the email said.

This comes after Trump’s campaign sent an email seeking donations on Friday, ahead of the Alaska summit.

Yesterday’s email read, “I’m meeting with Putin in Alaska! It’s a little chilly. THIS MEETING IS VERY HIGH STAKES for the world. The Democrats would love nothing more than for ME TO FAIL. No one in the world knows how to make deals like me!”

7h ago09.50 EDT

European leaders invited to Monday’s Washington meeting with Zelenskyy, European officials say

European leaders are invited to attend a Monday meeting with US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing two senior European officials.

The meeting comes after a summit between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, which Washington said resulted in “great progress” but no deal to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Updated at 09.58 EDT

8h ago09.35 EDT

Two killed in Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's Kursk region, Russian governor says

Two people, a 52-year-old man and his 13-year-old son, were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Kursk region, the local governor said on Saturday.

In a statement published on Telegram, the Kursk governor, Alexander Khinshtein, said that the two had been killed when their car caught fire as a result of a drone strike.

Khinshtein said that the attack took place in Rylsk district, a border area close to the part of Kursk region that Ukraine occupied between August 2024 and March this year.

8h ago09.09 EDT

'Coalition of the willing' leaders to meet on Sunday, French president's office says

The “coalition of the willing” leaders will meet via video conference on Sunday afternoon ahead of president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington on Monday, the French presidency office said on Saturday.

The meeting will be co-presided by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, the office said.

Updated at 09.12 EDT

8h ago08.46 EDT

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has warned that the battle for Ukraine’s future and European security has reached a “decisive phase” as he urged the west to maintain unity in its opposition to Vladimir Putin, who he labelled a “cunning and ruthless player”.

The game for Ukraine’s future, Poland’s security, and all of Europe has entered a decisive phase. Today, it is even clearer that Russia respects only the strong, and Putin has once again proven to be a cunning and ruthless player. Therefore, maintaining the unity of the entire West is so important.

Earlier this week, US president Donald Trump at the last minute requested Maga-allied Polish president Karol Nawrocki join the Ukraine teleconference with European leaders on Wednesday, according to centrist Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, who had initally been expected to attend. Nawrocki, not Tusk, was present on the call between Trump and European leaders on Friday night after the summit with Putin in Alaska.

Nawrocki, a conservative nationalist and Eurosceptic, is an ally of Trump’s right-wing populist Maga political movement and visited the White House during Poland’s presidential election campaign this year.

Updated at 09.06 EDT

9h ago08.36 EDT

Zelenskyy warns Russia may try to step up attacks in coming days

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia may step up its attacks on Ukraine following the inconclusive Putin-Trump summit and the news that the Ukrainian leader would fly to Washington to meet the US president on Monday. In a post on X, he wrote:

Based on the political and diplomatic situation around Ukraine, and knowing Russia’s treachery, we anticipate that in the coming days the Russian army may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors.

Updated at 08.38 EDT

9h ago08.20 EDT

Ukrainians label summit as 'useless meeting'

Agence France-Presse has been speaking to some ordinary Ukrainians to get their view of the summit, and it’s fair to say they are pretty unimpressed.

Pavlo Nebroev stayed up until the middle of the night in Kharkiv, which has suffered repeated Russian bombardments, to wait for the press conference. The 38-year-old theatre manager said:

I saw the results I expected. I think this is a great diplomatic victory for Putin. He has completely legitimised himself.”

Nebroev, like many Ukrainians, was gobsmacked the meeting could take place without representatives of his country.

This was a useless meeting. Issues concerning Ukraine should be resolved with Ukraine, with the participation of Ukrainians, the president.”

Olya Donik, 36, said she was not surprised by the turn of events as she walked through a sunny park in Kharkiv with Nebroev.

“It ended with nothing. Alright, let’s continue living our lives here in Ukraine,” she said.

“Whether there are talks or not, Kharkiv is being shelled almost every day. Kharkiv definitely doesn’t feel any change,” said Iryna Derkach, a 50-year-old photographer.

We believe in victory, we know it will come, but God only knows who exactly will bring it about”.

Derkach, like many Ukrainians, was suspicious of Trump. “We do our job and don’t pay too much attention to what Trump is doing,” she added.

Pharmacist Larysa Melnyk did not think her country was any closer to seeing peace.

“I don’t think there will be a truce,” she told AFP, adding that even if the guns fall silent, it will only be temporarily.

9h ago07.56 EDT

Russia’s reaction to Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska has been nothing short of jubilant, with Moscow celebrating the fact that the Russian leader met his US counterpart without making concessions and now faces no sanctions despite rejecting Trump’s ceasefire demands.

“The meeting proved that negotiations are possible without preconditions,” wrote former president Dmitry Medvedev on Telegram. He added that the summit showed that talks could continue as Russia wages war in Ukraine.

Trump entered the high-stakes summit warning, “I won’t be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire,” and threatening “severe consequences” if Moscow refused to cooperate.

But after a three-hour meeting with the Russian side that yielded no tangible results, Trump shelved his threats and instead insisted that the meeting was “extremely productive,” even as Putin clung to his maximalist demands for ending the war and announced no concessions on the battlefield, where Russian forces are consolidating key gains in eastern Ukraine.

Read the full article here:

10h ago07.25 EDT

Security guarantees 'essential', says European Commission president

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on X that strong security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe were “essential” in any peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

“The EU is working closely with Zelenskyy and the United States to reach a just and lasting peace. Strong security guarantees that protect Ukrainian and European vital security interests are essential,” von der Leyen posted on Saturday.

The EU leaders are emphasising the issue of security guarantees, something Ukraine has been seeking as the minimum feature to secure its future ability to defend itself in the absence of membership of Nato, which is still wants.

Updated at 07.35 EDT

10h ago07.05 EDT

More statements have been issued after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska ended in no peace agreement.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said in a statement on Saturday that Russia has no intention of ending its war in Ukraine “anytime soon” but that the US “holds the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously”.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said in a statement on X that France would work with the US and partners in the “coalition of the willing” to make progress on a lasting peace with security guarantees. That coalition will meet in the near future, Macron added.

The spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said on Saturday: “The way forward can only be through dialogue and diplomacy. The world wants to see an early end to the conflict in Ukraine.”

The Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, who has diverged from most western allies by visiting Moscow twice since last year and refusing to provide official military aid to Ukraine, said in a recorded statement on Facebook: “The coming days will show whether the big players in the Union will support this process … or whether the unsuccessful European strategy of trying to weaken Russia through this conflict with all kinds of literally incredible financial, political or military assistance to Kyiv will continue.”

Updated at 07.21 EDT

1 of 8 See remainder of takeaways HERE

ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO – FROM USA TODAY

'NO DEAL': TAKEAWAYS FROM TRUMP'S ALASKA SUMMIT WITH PUTIN

By Francesca Chambers and Zac Anderson

WASHINGTON – Vladimir Putin caught a ride in the presidential limousine and achieved recognition on the world stage.

Donald Trump flew more than 4,000 miles and rolled out the red carpet for the Russian leader in Alaska – and left empty-handed after some three hours of negotiations.

A much-hyped summit between Trump and Putin that saw the U.S. president flex his deal-making skills achieved no major breakthrough in peace negotiations over Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The talks culminated in a vague statement to the media in which Putin spoke of an “agreement.” Trump was then left in the awkward position of declaring “no deal” had been reached.

A planned press conference? Called off. The two leaders spoke briefly and answered no questions.

“There were many, many points that we agree on,” Trump said without elaborating. “A couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there,” he added. “So there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

Trump said he’d be calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO allies on his way home to debrief them on the conversation with his Russian counterpart, who had been isolated by Western leaders after invading Ukraine in 2022.

As the American president, who’d warned of “severe consequences” if a ceasefire wasn’t reached, waved goodbye to the press while boarding Air Force One for Washington, Putin taxied down the runway in the distance.

Putin invokes ‘root causes’ of war, jabs Trump foe Biden

For a television president who regularly fields questions from reporters, Trump’s quick exit after the meeting was abnormal.

The two men spoke for a combined 12 minutes – with Putin going first. He praised Trump for convening the meeting, saying relations between the two countries had fallen to their lowest point since the Cold War.

But he soon brought up old charges about the “root causes” of the conflict that he’s long blamed on NATO enlargement and Ukraine’s alignment with the West.

And while Putin notably said “the security of Ukraine should be secured” and Russia was “prepared to work on that,” he did not say what he had in mind.

“I would like to hope that the agreement that we’ve reached together will help us bring closer that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine,” Putin added, without saying what it entailed.

He then warned Ukrainian and European leaders not to “throw a wrench in the works” with “backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress.”

“I just don’t think we heard anything that signaled any sort of shift in Russia’s maximal position,” said David Salvo, a former State Department official who served in Russia. 

He cast Putin’s comments as “grandstanding” and said of security guarantees for Ukraine, “I don’t think he’s ready to soften his position quite yet.”

Putin also jabbed at former President Joe Biden and said he agreed with Trump’s assertions that the war never would have happened if the Republican had won in 2020.

Trump said Putin’s comments were “very profound.” He described the meeting as “extremely productive” and said the two sides agreed on “many points” without divulging the details. 

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

Hanging over the summit was a potential ceasefire, which Zelenskyy and European leaders thought could emerge from the talks. 

But expectations fell quickly as Trump talked up potential “land swaps” that have been rejected by Zelenskyy. Trump sought to lower expectations ahead of the summit and cast the conversation as talks about future talks. 

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told CNN while the summit was happening, “I think the best that we could hope for is that there is a commitment coming out of Putin to a ceasefire with enough contours to it that it is believable that it will be more than just a brief moment to check a box here.”

It was sold in 1867, but some Russians want Alaska back from the US

Why is Trump-Putin meeting being held in Alaska? It's the 'most strategic place.' Putin-Trump souvenirs gain popularity in Moscow ahead of Alaska summit

Trump pushes Ukraine to agree to 'land swap' with Russia ahead of Putin summit

Zelenskyy rejects conceding land to Russia after Trump suggests "swapping" territories

Trump says US will send Patriot missiles to Ukraine: 'They desperately need' them

The summit ended without any mention of a ceasefire by Putin or Trump, who repeated in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity after the summit that he believed an agreement was in sight.

Trump added: “Now it’s up to President Zelenskyy to get it done.”

He indicated that a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine was part of the discussion.

Putin teases possible business deals with Trump

First, there were joint hockey games. Then, there were films promoting “traditional values.” And at their Alaska summit, Putin made another enticement: potential economic investments.

“It is clear that the U.S. and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential,” Putin said. “Russia and the U.S. can offer each other so much in trade, digital, high tech and in space exploration. We see that Arctic cooperation is also very possible.”

Accompanying Putin at the summit was Kirill Dmitriev, the special envoy for investment and economic cooperation. The Putin adviser met with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington in April.

“He’s bringing a lot of business people from Russia. And that’s good, I like that, because they want to do business,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way to Alaska. “But they’re not doing business until we get the war settled.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick came with Trump.

Trump later referred to “tremendous Russian business representatives” at the summit and said “everybody wants to deal with us.”

In his Hannity interview, Trump indicated that Putin also tried to flatter him by saying the 2020 election he lost to Biden was “rigged” and fanned baseless claims that the outcome was the result of widespread voter fraud.

Trump rolls out the red carpet for Putin

Putin received a warm reception in Alaska after years of being left out in the cold by Western leaders.

The summit began with Trump giving Putin an outreached hand, as the Russian leader walked down an intersecting red carpet on the tarmac to greet him. Trump clapped his hands in applause as Putin approached.

They shook hands, patted each other’s arms, and walked together, posing for pictures on a platform with a sign reading “Alaska 2025.” In the background: Military planes and personnel and green cloud-covered mountains.

A reporter shouted, “President Putin, will you stop killing civilians?” while Putin stood next to Trump on the platform. He gestured but didn’t say anything.

Trump and Putin rode together, without aides, to the summit in Trump’s limousine.

Gone was the frustration that Trump had expressed throughout the summer over Putin’s reluctance to agree on a peace deal. 

“I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir,” Trump said of his Russian counterpart as they d a stage together in Alaska.

Now what? Severe consequences? Secondary Tariffs? Another meeting?

The lack of progress at the Trump-Putin summit raised questions about what comes next.

Trump said he planned to speak with Zelenskyy and NATO leaders to brief them. He again talked about moderating a three-way meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

And although he’d warned before the meeting that if Putin wasn’t cooperative, he would face “severe consequences” and threatened tariff hikes on Russia’s top trading partners, for now, he said he was letting China off the hook.

“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that,” Trump told Hannity. “Now I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now, I think the meeting went very well.”

Trump’s next moves will be closely watched to see if he maintains the friendly posture toward Putin that he took at the summit or takes a firmer approach. 

“By framing it as a positive meeting, in his own mind, it takes the pressure off of himself to make Russia pay a price for continuing the war,” former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst said. “At least for right now.”

Trump told reporters before the meeting that he was “not looking to waste a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of money” on negotiations and wanted to see the war quickly wrapped up.

“The wildcard now is whether Trump’s actually going to get tough on Russia, or whether it’s going to be in sort of endless talks and letting Russia stall for time,” said Salvo, managing director for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE – FROM THE HILL

5 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT

by Rema Rahman and Colin Meyn - 08/15/25 9:58 PM ET

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin left the world guessing on Friday after a historic summit that yielded no details about what was discussed, what was agreed to and what remaining sticking points remain to ending the war with Ukraine.

The two leaders holed up behind closed doors for around three hours at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. What they talked about, however, remains largely a mystery as the two leaders, standing side-by-side at a joint news conference, revealed very little of what “progress” they said was made. They took no questions from the press.

Here are five takeaways from the summit.

No deal on ceasefire but ‘progress’ made 

Trump at the press conference would only tease the fact that the two leaders had a “productive meeting” and said they agreed on some things, but not others – without offering any details of what was discussed.

“I believe we 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 gotten there, but we’ve made some headway. So there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said, adding that he would be calling European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following the summit.

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

Putin, for his part, stressed that his nation needs to eliminate what he called the “primary roots” of the conflict, without elaborating on what those were. He acknowledged that some “agreement” was made but also did not offer any details.

“I would like to hope that the agreement that we’ve reached together will help us bring closer that goal and will pave the path towards 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. They will not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress.”

There was no mention of several high-stakes components on the table, including the U.S. staving off any further sanctions on Russia, a nuclear arms deal and security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a peace agreement.

Trump had also teased the notion of having a second meeting that included Zelensky if the Alaska summit proved successful. The president and Ukrainian leader are expected to meet at the White House on Monday, the leaders d early Saturday.

Trump gives Putin red-carpet treatment

Trump rolled out the red carpet — literally — for Putin’s arrival in the U.S. 

Air Force One arrived at the base first, with Putin’s presidential plane arriving about a half hour later. Both leaders emerged at the same time, walking down a red carpet and greeting each other warmly.

Trump applauded while the Russian president walked to meet him, shaking hands and giving friendly arm taps while the two exchanged pleasantries before posing for photos. Putin later said at the press conference that he greeted Trump by saying “good afternoon, dear neighbor.”

In a remarkable move, Putin stepped into Trump’s armored presidential limousine, known as the beast, and rode with Trump to the site of the summit at the base. Putin was seen laughing with Trump in the back seat as the motorcade drove away from the tarmac. 

The rapport between the two as they greeted one another stood in stark contrast to the sometimes harsh words Trump has had for his Russian counterpart as he struggles to reach a ceasefire deal to end the war with Ukraine.

The meeting gave Putin an equal playing field with Trump.

Putin later spoke first at his joint appearance with Trump, giving him the opportunity to set the tone and deliver a lengthy speech about Russian history and the importance of maintaining relations with the United States.

Much remains a mystery

Despite the talk of progress on both sides, neither Trump nor Putin offered any indication of how Russia and Ukraine had moved closer to a peace deal. 

And the press conference ended before reporters could try to fill in the blanks: Will Trump move ahead with sanctions to pressure Putin? Are there any plans for a second meeting involving Zelensky, as Trump had hoped for? Did they discuss territorial concessions or other contours of a peace deal? 

Maria Popova, an associate professor of political science at McGill University, said the ambiguity left two possibilities. 

“The first one is Trump actually realizes that this is a no-go, that there’s no progress,” in which case he may return to the drawing board with Zelensky and European leaders. 

The more pessimistic possibility for Ukraine is that Trump tries to force Zelensky to accept whatever terms Putin outlined. 

“And when Zelensky and Europe don’t want to take the deal, he will blame them for obstructing peace, and he’ll get angry, and he’ll say that Zelensky is irrational and about to lose his country.”

Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity after the summit, Trump suggested Zelensky would need to make concessions to finalize a deal. 

“I mean, a lot of points were agreed on, but there’s not that much as, one or two pretty significant items, but I think they can be reached,” he said. “Now it’s really up to President Zelensky 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 Zelensky.” 

Carefully choreographed around ‘peace’

Friday’s meeting was carefully choreographed to bolster Trump’s image as a peacemaker. Both the backdrop of the meeting and the press conference were emblazoned with the words “Pursuing Peace.”

The White House this week touted Nobel Peace Prize endorsements from various world leaders, including the heads of state from Israel, Cambodia, Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan — all of whom were involved in conflicts that Trump helped end. 

However, Trump has been unable to halt the war in Ukraine or two of the world’s other major wars: Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, where mass starvation is taking hold, or the brutal civil war in Sudan. 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday said she’d nominate Trump for the Nobel Prize if he managed to broker peace in Ukraine without giving Russia Ukrainian territory. 

Trump insisted the meeting went well despite having nothing to show for it. 

Kristina Hook, an assistant professor of conflict management at Kennesaw State University, said Trump’s approach to Putin doesn’t appear to be working. 

“Trump’s talk of ‘progress’ seems aimed at generating momentum, but the fundamental obstacle remains: Putin refuses to recognize Ukraine’s sovereignty or its people’s democratic right to choose their future. Until that changes, diplomacy is largely theater,” she said. 

“Until the U.S. exerts real leverage to push Putin off his maximalist aims and toward respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Russia will choose to grind the war on.”

Trump to call Zelensky, world leaders

Trump said he planned to call Zelensky and NATO allies following the meeting, adding that he also expected to speak again to Putin soon. 

Robert Murrett, deputy director of Syracuse University’s Institute for Security Policy and Law, said he was “very encouraged” by Trump’s commitment to keep allies in the loop. And he said the outcome would not come as a surprise in Europe. 

“They had no anticipation for a dramatic step forward, a cease fire, any kind of thing, you know, halfway to a peace agreement,” he said. “I think this is kind of the outcome that most of them expected.”

There was no immediate reaction from Zelensky or European leaders on Friday night following the summit. 

Trump and Putin briefly discussed the location of their next meeting at the end of their joint press conference. 

“Next time in Moscow,” Putin said in English, chuckling. 

“Oh, that’s an interesting one,” Trump said. “I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I, uh, I could see it possibly happening.”

Brett Samuels contributed from Anchorage, Alaska

Updated Aug. 16 at 8:20 a.m. EDT.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR – FROM FOX

TRUMP REVEALS 10 STRIKING TAKEAWAYS FROM PUTIN SUMMIT IN HANNITY INTERVIEW

President Trump was tight-lipped after his high-stakes summit but offered some key insight with Sean Hannity

By Peter Pinedo August 15, 2025 11:19pm EDT

President Donald Trump was tight-lipped after his high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday but offered some key insight into the meeting to Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview.

Here are the key takeaways from Trump’s highly anticipated meeting with the Russian leader as d with Hannity. 

1. ‘No deal until there’s a deal’

Trump told Hannity that "as far as I’m concerned, there’s no deal until there’s a deal." He noted, however, that "we did make a lot of progress."

2. Putin ‘wants to see it done’

The president noted to Hannity that he believes Putin is not only open to peace but that he "wants to see it done." 

TRUMP SAYS HE 'WON'T BE HAPPY' IF PUTIN DOES NOT AGREE TO A CEASEFIRE IN UKRAINE DURING ALASKA SUMMIT

3. Not prepared to what the sticking point was

Pressed by Hannity to what the "one big issue you don’t agree on" that kept the leaders from walking away with a ceasefire deal, Trump declined to . He said, "No, I’d rather not. I guess somebody’s going to go public with it, they’ll figure it out, but no, I don’t want to do that, I want to see if we can get it done." 

4. Up to Zelenskyy and Europeh

After taking such a major step as to physically meet with the Russian president, Trump said it is now "up to [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to get it done and maybe the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit."

5. Trump open to trilateral meeting

The president said that he would be open to attending a trilateral meeting with the presidents of Ukraine and Russia, saying, "If they’d like, I’ll be at that meeting. They’re going to set up a meeting now between President Zelenskyy and President Putin and myself, I guess, not that I want to be there, but I want to get it done." 

He added, "I’ll be there." 

PUTIN PRAISES TRUMP’S ‘SINCERE’ PEACE EFFORTS, SIGNALS POSSIBLE US-RUSSIA NUCLEAR DEAL

6. Meeting a ‘10’

Trump said that he would rate the meeting a 10 out of 10, saying, "I think the meeting was a 10 in the sense that we got along great." 

7. Russia respects America now

Asked what he thought finally brought Putin to the negotiating table, Trump answered, "I don’t want to say anything brought him, he’s a very smart guy, nothing brought him to the table, so to speak." 

"I think he respects our country now, he didn’t respect it under Biden, I can tell you that, he had no respect for it." 

8. No war if Trump was in office

Trump also commented that he "was so happy" that Putin d his belief during their joint press conference that the Russia-Ukraine war would have never happened had he been in office at the time. 

ZELENSKYY NOT INVITED TO UPCOMING TRUMP, PUTIN TALKS — WHITE HOUSE SAYS THIS WAS THE REASON

9. Advice to Zelenskyy

Without hesitating, Trump said that his advice to Zelenskyy after Friday’s meeting with Putin would be "make a deal." 

10. 2020 election rigged

Trump shared that Putin told him he believed the 2020 election was rigged because of the widespread mail-in voting, saying, "you can’t have a great democracy with mail-in voting." 

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE – FROM AXIOS

TRUMP: PUTIN SUMMIT PRODUCTIVE BUT "WE DIDN'T GET THERE" ON UKRAINE DEAL

By Dave Lawler

President Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a constructive summit on Friday but "we didn't get there" on a ceasefire or peace deal for Ukraine.

Why it matters: Trump set a ceasefire as the target for this summit, but said that while he and Putin agreed on most of the relevant issues they did not come to an agreement on "the biggest one." He added: "There's no deal until there's a deal."

Dave Lawler

11 hours ago -

World

Trump-Putin summit starts on red carpet, ends in confusion

Two men in suits walk on a platform with large white letters spelling "ALASKA 2025" at an airbase with fighter jets and an Air Force One plane in the background under a cloudy sky.

Friday's summit in Alaska began as a superpower spectacle, then abruptly ended without any indication of what was achieved or where things go from here.

Why it matters: President Trump didn't get the ceasefire he came for, or the public commitment he wanted from Vladimir Putin to meet next with Volodymyr Zelensky. The leaders scrapped a planned lunch and departed early — but not before both declared the meeting a success.

Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo

Updated Aug 13, 2025 -

Trump: "Very severe" consequences for Putin if he refuses ceasefire

Two men stand side by side near a door; one wears a dark suit with red tie and raises a fist, the other wears a black shirt with an emblem. An American flag and soldier are partially visible.

President Trump said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin must agree to a ceasefire at their summit on Friday or face "very severe consequences."

Why it matters: Trump had previously downplayed the likelihood of major breakthroughs in Alaska, calling it a "feel-out meeting." Now he's a set a concrete objective — and one Putin has repeatedly rebuffed up to now.

Dave Lawler

Updated 23 hours ago -

Trump-Putin summit: Closed-door talks ongoing after red carpet welcome

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been meeting behind closed doors for more than two hours following a dramatic arrival ceremony at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.

Why it matters: Trump has set a ceasefire in Ukraine as his goal for the summit and said ahead of his arrival that he's "not going to be happy" if no truce is agreed. He's also promised "severe consequences" if Putin doesn't demonstrate he's serious about peace.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX – FROM TIME

TRUMP AND PUTIN DIDN’T MAKE A DEAL, BUT PUTIN STILL WON

By Richard Stengel Aug 15, 2025 11:27 PM ET

During the press conference at the end of his brief and lukewarm summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, an uncharacteristically subdued Donald Trump said something painfully honest: "There's no deal until there's a deal."

There was no deal.

In many ways, Trump and Putin got the show they wanted.  The ubiquitous television graphics, TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT, with fluttering American and Russian flags. The split-screen of Air Force 1 and Russia’s executive plane landing at a remote airport in Alaska, and then the two protagonists walking down a skinny red carpet like the end of a buddy movie. The grip-and-grin handshakes, with Trump patting Putin’s hand in a gesture known to maître d’s everywhere. The cosy ride in "the Beast," a prize not even offered to close allies.

Trump is likely happy because the eyes of the world are upon him and he was executive producing the images on the world’s television screens. (And no one was talking about Jeffrey Epstein). Putin is happy because a Russian president is always happy when they are treated as equal to American presidents. Remember, Barack Obama said Russia was a second-rate, "regional power."

Putin got what he wanted: a summit with an American president, something normally you have to make elaborate compromises to get. An indicted war criminal who cannot travel to over 100 nations, the Russian President literally had a red carpet rolled out for him on United States territory by an American president. And he didn’t have to give up anything for it—he just had to show up.

Read More: The Real Danger of the Trump-Putin Summit

At the press conference, Putin talked about how close Russia was to America (shades of Sarah Palin) and claimed that Russian trade with American has increased by 20%. He made sure to praise Trump in the over-the-top way that has become customary in diplomacy with America. Trump was uncharacteristically restrained and circumspect. Even though Putin had alluded to an agreement, Trump did not do so. The self-professed world’s greatest dealmaker left without a deal. He did, however, get in several references to the “Russia hoax,” while Vlad smirked.

The truth is, Trump needed a deal more than Putin did. “Deals are what I do,” he said, and he didn’t do one.

In a larger way, the nothing-burger outcome exposes the flaws in Trump’s theory of diplomacy. Trump seems to believe personal warmth between leaders will make his adversary more likely to compromise or agree with him. That is naïve and delusional. Earlier this week a White House spokesperson described Trump as a “realist.” This is the classic foreign policy term, in contrast to a foreign policy idealist, whose legacy comes from Woodrow Wilson and his quest for a League of Nations. But Henry Kissinger, the ultimate American realist, said nations have no permanent friends or enemies, they have interests. That’s something Donald Trump doesn’t quite understand. Trump stands for himself. Putin stands for Russia. Putin’s goals are unchanging; his smile and his handshake are fleeting.

Long before Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin wanted to Make Russia Great Again. I spent several hours with Putin in 2006 for TIME’s Person of the Year cover, and it was in that interview that he said the greatest tragedy of the 20^th century was the disintegration of the Soviet Union. I remember we all wondered for a moment whether that was really what he had said, but the transcript bore it out. He believes it, devoutly. He was a KGB officer in Dresden when the Wall came down, and he was bereft.

The Russian President has always wanted to put the Soviet Union back together again. (His foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, was spotted wearing a USSR sweatshirt ahead of the Summit.) Putin believes in a kind of Russian exceptionalism with Russia as the great power between East and West. Putin is nostalgic not just for the Cold War, but the Russian empire of the czars. He has a profound and angry grievance about the West and America. He told me Westerners regard Russians as monkeys. (Yes, he said that.) But then he also told me Russian voters were not sophisticated enough to choose their own leaders. (Yes, he said that too.)

Under his leadership, Russia has been trying to destabilize the West for decades. Just last week the U.S. Justice Department announced that Russian hackers had penetrated the federal court system. Putin has been trying to put space between the US and Europe for decades. In his eyes, West and America are always the aggressors and Russia is always the victim—even when negotiating about the war in Ukraine.

Trump’s Make-or-Break Moment with Putin

Normally, in any wartime negotiation, the country gaining territory does not want to negotiate or give up anything, while the country losing territory wants to negotiate and is willing to compromise. Russia is gaining territory, slowly; Ukraine is losing territory, grudgingly. Russia has a 50-year goal, to re-unite parts of the old Soviet Union; Ukraine has a more immediate goal, to stop the war and not give up any territory to do so.

When Putin said during the press conference that they still needed to address the “root causes” of the conflict, that was a hint to what may have transpired inside. Putin can talk for hours about the idea that Ukraine is not a nation, that the Kievan Rus is the basis of Russia, that the Russian Orthodox Church grew out of the Ukrainian one, and he could have spent the whole time on any of those subjects. And maybe he did.

According to the 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report, after the TIME Person of the Year cover came out, Trump sent Putin a handwritten note of congratulations to saying, “As you probably heard, I am a big fan of yours!”

Putin is still milking Trump’s fanboy affection. He was the big winner today because he didn't have to compromise before or after the meeting. He got the superpower treatment even though he is a war criminal. He got equivalence with an American president on the world stage. Zelensky won by not losing. Ukraine could have been crippled today, and instead they live to fight another day.

It’s true that no deal is better than a bad deal. But what is the Dealmaker-in-Chief without a deal?

Stengel is an MSNBC analyst and the former Editor of TIME.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN – FROM USA TODAY

NATIVE UKRAINIAN LEFT SPEECHLESS AFTER ‘NO DEAL’ SUMMIT

Native Ukrainians disappointed after no deal was reached Trump and Putin's high stakes summit

By Terry Collins

· Ukrainian-American Volodymyr Valchuk expressed disappointment in the lack of progress from the Trump-Putin summit regarding the war in Ukraine.

· Valchuk hopes the outcome of the summit will not result in further loss of Ukrainian land or lives.

· Two Ukrainian teens, Taisiia Grygorova and Sofiia Kopytko, d their experiences and hopes for the war's end.

 Ukrainian-American Volodymyr Valchuk said he already had low expectations for the high-stakes summit between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. 

But after listening to the world leaders meet in person for the first time in six years to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, Valchuk admitted this was a head-shaker.  

"I’m speechless. I have nothing to say. I really didn’t expect much, but this is even worse than I thought," Valchuk, 46, told USA TODAY. "That’s what I’m feeling right now."

Valchuk, a respiratory therapist who lives in San Rafael, California, said he’s "very disappointed" when Trump said "no deal" was reached to end the three-year Ukraine war.

“At least they could’ve given us a little idea what Putin said the agreement was,” Valchuk said about the summit held in Anchorage, Alaska. “Trump said he will talk to NATO and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy, but I really don’t know what that means?

“Yeah, I’m disappointed,” said Valchuk, who came from Ukraine to the US to attend college in 1996. “Very disappointed.”

Valchuk, who gained his American citizenship in 2004, said he doesn’t know what will happen next for his homeland.

“I just hope it’s not going to cost Ukraine some of its land and more lives,” Valchuk said. “I hope.” 

'No deal': Takeaways from Trump's Alaska summit with Putin

'What happens next?'

Meanwhile, Valchuck’s friend, Andriy Chemes, 39, who lives in Lviv, Ukraine, shares a similar disappointment. Chemes said on August 16 that many in Ukraine are feeling a collective sadness the day after the summit.

"It’s frustrating because they were talking about a ceasefire or making a deal," the tech marketing specialist said. "Right now, it looks like Trump is just trying to bring Putin back into the global arena with a restored reputation. 

The day's top stories, from sports to movies to politics to world events.

Beneficial for Ukraine, so there was no good news for us, but it was for Russia," Chemes added. "Otherwise, I see no signs of this madness stopping."

Chemes, who has previously spent time working in the US as his wife and 11-year-old daughter still live in California, hopes Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington to meet Trump on Monday will be substantive to getting all three leaders in the same room to discuss ending the war.

"But if Putin refuses to meet with Zelenskyy, then what?" said Chemes, who is back in Ukraine in case he has to serve in the military. "What happens next?"  

How the war looks for two Ukrainian teens currently in the US

For two Ukrainian-born teenagers, Taisiia Grygorova and Sofiia Kopytko, who are spending this summer performing across the East Coast in a play produced by the New Hampshire-based nonprofit Common Man for Ukraine titled "Voices from Ukraine: Stories of War and Hope," they told USA TODAY that no matter what outcome comes from the summit in Anchorage, Alaska, the war can't end soon enough.

Grygorova, 19, who lives in Kharkiv, a city near the Ukrainian-Russian border, said despite the constant rocket attacks, drones, air raids, and explosions, her thoughts are always with the people suffering through the continuous combat.

Grygorova, who's studying journalism at Warsaw International University, said she regularly returns to Kharkiv to visit her parents and four younger siblings, despite the dangers. 

"And every time I go there I prepare myself, 'Taia, you’re going for two weeks, and it’s a 100% chance that you will get under a rocket attack at least four times during this time, but you’ll be fine, your younger brothers and sisters live in this nightmare every day, you can handle two weeks,'" Grygorova said.

Grygorova said her youngest brother, a six-year-old, is supposed to start school this year, but she wonders how with the threat of bombings.

"You will ask, 'What risk?' Well, there is always a possibility that one of those bombs, which are flying over the city, will hit a school where kids are studying," Grygorova said. "My brother is going to study underground, with no sunlight, with no possibility to play outside, to run freely over a football pitch or hear the birds singing."

Grygorova said her mother keeps all of the family documents near the front door, just in case they need to leave their house forever.

"That’s how the war looks for me and my family," Grygorova said.

Sofiia Kopytko, 18, from Chernivtsi, Ukraine, said the war has not only been about territory, the lack of resources and weapons, but also the doctors who work in critical conditions, and families like Grygorova's who live in occupied territories and face death daily as a result of random air strikes.

"Human lives are not statistics, but the most valuable thing that each of us has, and we must protect it," Kopytko said. "After all, you never know what tomorrow holds and whether it will come at all."

Grygorova said she desperately wants the war to end so that people can live their lives in peace.

"I hope that when the war is over, I’ll be able to visit my family without fear," Grygorova said. "I hope that my city will be renovated. I hope I’ll be able to help in the rebuilding of my country, where I want my future kids to grow up."

Kopytko said her wishes are quite simple.

"That there will be no more news of death and destruction, just simple happiness," Kopytko said. "Of course, I can talk about building a career and a family, but for me, these are the components of the happiness I strive for. First and foremost, free people in a free country. In a free Ukraine."

ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT – FROM GUARDIAN U.K.

‘WHAT ABOUT OUR LIVES?’: EMOTIONS RUN HIGH IN FRONTLINE UKRAINIAN CITY OVER CEDING LAND TO RUSSIA

Trump’s talk of ‘land swaps’ as a simple transaction belies grim reality of what it would mean for people in Zaporizhzhia

BY Shaun Walker Fri 15 Aug 2025 00.00 EDT

The city of Zaporizhzhia, an industrial hub in south-east Ukraine, is as good a place as any to grasp the stakes of freezing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along its current frontlines, or of implementing a “land swap for peace” deal as envisioned by Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Since Russian troops began rolling into Ukraine in February 2022, Zaporizhzhia, with its broad avenues and Stalin-era apartment blocks, has been a 30-minute drive from the frontline. It has been under near-constant attack from missiles and drones. On Sunday, a Russian guided air bomb hit a bus station, wounding 24 people – just another day of suffering in a city that has known many of them.

Plenty of people here and in other Ukrainian towns close to the frontline are so weary of the sleepless nights and disrupted lives of the past years that they are ready for Kyiv to sign a peace deal, even an imperfect one, if it means the attacks will stop.

But many others have a very different opinion because they know first-hand what it means to give Russia control over Ukrainian territory: arrests, disappearances and the erasure of anything Ukrainian. As Moscow moves swiftly to Russify occupied territory, expelling or arresting active members of society and introducing new media outlets and school curricula heavy on propaganda, a few years of Russian control may make it almost impossible for Ukraine to regain these territories at a later date.

About one in five people living in Zaporizhzhia are internally displaced, from places even closer to the frontline or from occupied parts of Ukraine. They are living in Zaporizhzhia until they are able to go home.

On a recent visit to Zaporizhzhia, in a warehouse building where a group of volunteer women were making camouflage nets for the Ukrainian army there was a loud and resolute chorus of “No!” in response to the question of whether people would be happy to freeze the lines in exchange for peace.

“And what about our homes, our lives, all the things we are waiting to go back for?” asked one of the women, quickly becoming tearful. “Our only hope is for Ukraine to take them back, or we can never go home again.”

Apparently on the agenda at a summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska on Friday is a proposal that goes even further: Putin has reportedly pitched the idea that Ukraine should give up the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions it still holds, possibly in exchange for small parts of Kharkiv and Sumy regions held by Russia and the promise of a ceasefire – in essence, to swap Ukrainian land for other Ukrainian land.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out the idea that the Ukrainian army would simply walk out of some territories and leave the population to Russian rule. But Trump has suggested it is a good idea, talking of land swaps as though they are an easy and fair solution.

“There’ll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody. To the good, for the good of Ukraine. Good stuff, not bad stuff. Also, some bad stuff for both,” Trump said on Monday.

This idea of land swaps as a simple transaction belies the grim reality that would be likely to accompany such a move. In most of the discussions over a peace settlement in the Ukraine conflict, the fate of people has appeared to be afterthought, secondary to questions of land, military and security issues. The casual talk of land swaps has taken this even further.

Russia’s blueprint for how it works in occupied areas has been constant: it uses a mix of incentive and coercion to gain cooperation from local dignitaries. A minority of people welcome Russian rule and are happy to collaborate, others do so under pressure, while those who refuse are kicked out or arrested.

In the building of a former technical institute in Zaporizhzhia, the mayors and local councils of towns in the region still under occupation work in exile, one to each room. Most of the mayors have stories of being put under pressure by Russias in the early days of the invasion, with some being arrested and threatened.

In the room for Enerhodar, the town where the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is based, its mayor, Dmytro Orlov, said more than half of the town’s population had left since 2022. He had first been asked nicely, then threatened, to work with Russian occupiers. After his deputy was arrested, he went into hiding and then fled to Zaporizhzhia. “It became obvious I had to leave,” he said.

Back then it was possible to cross the frontline but now it is sealed. On the day the Guardian visited, a man had just arrived at the office asking for help, having done a 10-day drive via Russia, Turkey and Europe to cover the short distance between Enerhodar and Zaporizhzhia. His brother had been jailed for helping the Ukrainian army; he himself had just been released from captivity. He had arrived in Zaporizhzhia with a couple of suitcases and nothing else and was appealing to the local authorities to help him start a new life.

Every day there are new, similar stories as occupation ruins lives and splits up families. Many of those who resisted in the early days are still lost in Russia’s network of torture facilities and prisons for Ukrainian detainees. More recently, those considered “difficult” elements, such as teachers who refuse to teach the Russian curriculum, have been expelled from their homes and banned from “Russian territory” for decades.

Those who have left or been forced out of occupied regions have been replaced by new arrivals from Russia. “The Russians have brought in a huge number of people,” said the regional governor, Ivan Fedorov. Some of them are pensioners from icy parts of Russia who are lured with the promise of a better climate; others are police, prosecutors, teachers and other functionaries who are brought in to prop up the occupation regime.

The idea is that after a decade or two of population influx and the Russian school curriculum, few in these territories will consider themselves in any way Ukrainian. “Their main goal is to change the gene pool of our towns,” Fedorov said.

For many Ukrainians from occupied areas, ceding control to Russia in a peace deal would mean saying goodbye to their homes for ever.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE – FROM NY TIMES

TRUMP BACKS PLAN TO CEDE LAND FOR PEACE IN UKRAINE

After meeting the Russian president, President Trump told European leaders he now favors giving up territory Ukraine controls to Russia to end the fighting, a concession Ukraine has long opposed.

Jim Tankersley Ivan Nechepurenko and Steven Erlanger Aug. 16, 2025 Updated 5:00 p.m. ET

President Trump on Saturday split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, backing Mr. Putin’s plan for a sweeping peace agreement based on Ukraine ceding territory it controls to Russia, instead of the urgent cease-fire Mr. Trump had said he wanted before the meeting.

Skipping cease-fire discussions would give Russia an advantage in the talks, which are expected to continue on Monday when President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visits Mr. Trump at the White House. It breaks from a strategy Mr. Trump and European allies, as well as Mr. Zelensky, had agreed to before the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska.

Mr. Trump told European leaders that he believed a rapid peace deal could be negotiated if Mr. Zelensky agreed to give up the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops, according to two senior European officials briefed on the call.

In return, Mr. Putin offered a cease-fire in the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines and a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again, the senior officials said. He has broken similar promises before.

Mr. Trump had threatened stark economic penalties if Mr. Putin left the meeting without a deal to end the war, but he has suspended those threats in the wake of the summit.

The American president’s moves got a chilly reception in Europe, where leaders have time and again seen Mr. Trump reverse positions on Ukraine after speaking with Mr. Putin.

Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social early on Saturday that he had spoken by phone to Mr. Zelensky and some European leaders after his meeting with Mr. Putin. He claimed “it was determined by all” that it was better to go directly to negotiating a peace agreement without first implementing a cease-fire.

European leaders, publicly and privately, made clear that was not the case. They issued a statement that did not echo Mr. Trump’s claim that peace talks were preferable to a cease-fire. Britain, France, Germany and others threatened to increase economic penalties on Russia “as long as the killing in Ukraine continues.”

Mr. Zelensky, who was left out of the Alaska summit, said in a statement that he and Mr. Trump would on Monday “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”

Here’s what else to know:

· Zelensky’s challenge: Ukraine was left scrambling to piece together what Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin had discussed and striving to avoid being sidelined. Mr. Zelensky is heading to Washington on Monday. An official briefed on his call with Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky said Kyiv does not understand why the American president suddenly dropped the demand that a cease-fire precede negotiations. Read more ›

· European response: European leaders moved to support Ukraine and voice caution of Russia. They neither endorsed Mr. Trump’s changed stance on how to achieve peace nor openly contradicted it. A virtual meeting between the leaders of France, Britain, and Germany is set for Sunday.

· Russia’s advantage: Mr. Trump’s swing into alignment with Russia’s vision of ending the war came as Moscow’s forces have the upper hand on the battlefield. Discarding the prospect of a cease-fire allows Russia to press that advantage further. Read more ›

Aug. 16, 2025, 4:12 p.m. ET1 hour ago

Ashley Ahn

Breaking news reporter

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada praised President Trump for “creating the opportunity to end Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” and agreeing to provide security guarantees to Ukraine after a peace deal. He also said Canada would intensify its support for Ukraine and is working closely with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. His statement aligned with much of Europe’s response to the Alaska summit, cautiously avoiding contradicting Trump’s decision to prioritize a sweeping peace deal over an immediate cease-fire, while showing firm support of Ukraine.

Aug. 16, 2025, 2:43 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Michael Schwirtz

Putin keeps talking about the ‘root causes’ of the war. What does he mean?

When he appeared onstage with President Trump after their summit in Alaska, and again on Saturday at the Kremlin, President Vladimir V. Putin trotted out what has become a well-worn turn of phrase, declaring that any solution to the war in Ukraine must address its “root causes.”

Mr. Putin has uttered the phrase — “pervoprichiny” in Russian — in just about every conversation concerning the war going back at least to February, when he used it in his first phone call with Mr. Trump after he returned to the presidency. It has become shorthand for the Russian president’s unwavering vision of Ukraine’s future.

Often, he and his deputies use the phrase with little or no explanation, as if its meaning were self-evident. “We are convinced that for the Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-lasting, all root causes of the crisis must be eliminated,” Mr. Putin said on Friday in Alaska, without elaborating.

What exactly is Mr. Putin talking about? The “root causes” refers to Russia’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine — a concoction of Mr. Putin’s grievances over Ukraine’s political and historical choices that is hard to parse even for Eastern European experts.

But at its heart is Mr. Putins fixation with NATO’s expansion after the Cold War ended into what he believes should be Russia’s sphere of influence, and his desire to have a pliable, pro-Russia government in Kyiv.

Perhaps the closest Mr. Putin came to defining these root causes of late came in June 2024, when he outlined the conditions that he thought must be met for Russia to enter into a cease-fire agreement with Ukraine.

These included Ukrainian withdrawal from four Ukrainian regions Mr. Putin declared officially part of Russia in September 2022, even though his troops do not control all the territory in any of these regions.Ukraine, he said at the time, must also abandon its long-stated aspirations to join NATO, and the West must lift all sanctions imposed on Russia.

Mr. Putin’s continued use of the phrase, despite the exertions of the Trump administration to bring about the war’s end, suggest that for the Russian president little has changed since he first announced the start of what he described was a “special military operation” in the early hours of Feb. 24, 2022.

The Ukrainian leadership under President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he had hoped to decapitate in the war’s first days and replace with a pro-Russia regime, remains in place. And NATO, the expansion of which Mr. Putin described as an existential threat when he sent troops into Ukraine, has only grown larger, gaining Sweden and Finland, which has a long border with Russia.

Aug. 16, 2025, 2:33 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Michael Schwirtz

Eight Baltic and Nordic countries, including NATO’s newest members, Finland and Sweden, declared in a unified statement on Saturday that they would continue to arm Ukraine and bolster their own defenses in the face of Russian aggression.

“Putin cannot be trusted,” they wrote in the statement, released a day after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met with President Trump in Alaska. The statement by a group of countries either bordering Russia or close enough to feel Moscow’s threat acutely was much sharper in tone than one released earlier on Saturday by the European Union, and far from the warm reception Putin received in Alaska. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces nor should Russia have any say in whether Ukraine joins NATO or the European Union, the Baltic and Nordic statement said, dismissing Putin’s central demands.

Aug. 16, 2025, 2:30 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Peter Baker

Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent and a former Moscow co-bureau chief for The Washington Post, reported from Anchorage.

News Analysis

Trump bows to Putin’s approach on Ukraine.

On the flight to Alaska, President Trump declared that if he did not secure a cease-fire in Ukraine during talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, “I’m not going to be happy,” and there would be “severe consequences.”

Just hours later, he got back on Air Force One and departed Alaska without the cease-fire he deemed so critical. Yet he had imposed no consequences, and had pronounced himself so happy with how things went with Mr. Putin that he said “the meeting was a 10.”

Even in the annals of Mr. Trump’s erratic presidency, the Anchorage meeting with Mr. Putin now stands out as a reversal of historic proportions. Mr. Trump abandoned the main goal he brought to his subarctic summit and, as he revealed on Saturday, would no longer even pursue an immediate cease-fire. Instead, he bowed to Mr. Putin’s preferred approach of negotiating a broader peace agreement requiring Ukraine to give up territory.

The net effect was to give Mr. Putin a free pass to continue his war against his neighbor indefinitely without further penalty, pending time-consuming negotiations for a more sweeping deal that appears elusive at best. Instead of a halt to the slaughter — “I’m in this to stop the killing,” Mr. Trump had said on the way to Alaska — the president left Anchorage with pictures of him and Mr. Putin joshing on a red carpet and in the presidential limousine known as the Beast.

“He got played again,” said Ivo Daalder, who was ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama. “For all the promises of a cease-fire, of severe economic consequences, of being disappointed, it took two minutes on the red carpet and 10 minutes in the Beast for Putin to play Trump again. What a sad spectacle.”

Mr. Trump’s allies focused on his plans to convene a three-way meeting with Mr. Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. “Let me tell you, I’ve never been more hopeful this war can end honorably and justly than I am right now,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a leading hawk on the Ukraine war, said on Fox News Friday night.

The cease-fire that Mr. Trump gave up in Alaska had been so important to him last month that he threatened tough new economic sanctions if Russia did not pause the war within 50 days. Then he moved the deadline up to last Friday. Now there is no cease-fire, no deadline and no sanctions plan.

Mr. Trump, characteristically, declared victory nonetheless, deeming the meeting “a great and very successful day in Alaska.” After calling Mr. Zelensky and European leaders from Air Force One on the way back to Washington, Mr. Trump said he would now try to broker the more comprehensive peace agreement Mr. Putin has sought.

“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” he wrote on social media on Saturday.

He said that Mr. Zelensky would come to Washington for meetings on Monday to pave the way for a joint meeting with Mr. Putin. “If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin,” Mr. Trump said. “Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”

Mr. Putin’s conditions for such a long-term peace agreement, however, are so expansive that Ukrainian and European leaders are unlikely to go along. Mr. Putin referred to this during his joint appearance with Mr. Trump in Anchorage after their talks, when he spoke about addressing the “root causes” of the war — his term for years of Russian grievances not just about Ukraine but about the United States, NATO and Europe’s security architecture.

“We are convinced that in order for the Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, all the root causes of the crisis, which have been discussed repeatedly, must be eliminated; all of Russia’s legitimate concerns must be taken into account; and a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole must be restored,” Mr. Putin said in Alaska.

In the past, Mr. Putin has insisted that a comprehensive peace agreement require NATO to pull forces back to its pre-expansion 1997 borders, bar Ukraine from joining the alliance and require Kyiv to not only give up territory in the east but shrink its military. In effect, Mr. Putin aims to reestablish Moscow’s sphere of influence not only in former Soviet territory but to some extent further in Eastern Europe.

President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mr. Zelensky and European leaders rejected similar demands on the eve of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. But Mr. Trump appears willing to engage in such a discussion, and since his Friday meeting with Mr. Putin, he has sought to shift the burden for reaching an agreement to Ukraine and Europe.

Mr. Trump has long expressed admiration for Mr. Putin and sympathy for his positions. At their most memorable meeting, held in Helsinki in 2018, Mr. Trump famously accepted Mr. Putin’s denial that Russia had intervened in the 2016 election, taking the former K.G.B. officer’s word over the conclusions of American intelligence agencies.

Much like then, the president’s chummy gathering in Alaska on Friday with Mr. Putin, who is now under U.S. sanctions and faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes, has generated ferocious blowback. Some critics compared it to the 1938 conference in Munich, when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Britain surrendered part of Czechoslovakia to Germany’s Adolf Hitler as part of a policy of appeasement.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, once considered the Trump of London, called the Alaska summit meeting “just about the most vomit-inducing episode in all the tawdry history of international diplomacy.”

But Mr. Zelensky and European leaders sought to make the best of the situation. Some were heartened by Mr. Trump’s comments on the way to Alaska suggesting a willingness to have the United States join Europe in offering some sort of security assurance to Ukraine short of NATO membership. He broached that again in his call with them following the meeting.

“We support President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the U.S.A. and Russia,” Mr. Zelensky said on Saturday. “Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain praised the American president. “President Trump’s efforts have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” he said in a statement. “His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended.”

What remains unknown is whether Mr. Trump secured any unannounced concessions from Mr. Putin behind the scenes that would ease the way to a peace agreement in the days to come. Mr. Trump talked about “agreement” on a number of unspecified points, and Mr. Putin referred cryptically to an “understanding” between the two of them.

At the moment, however, it does not look like Mr. Putin has made any move toward compromise, even as Mr. Trump has now given up on his bid for an immediate cease-fire. Before the Alaska summit, Russian forces were pounding Ukraine as part of their relentless yearslong assault. And for now, at least, they will continue.

Aug. 16, 2025, 1:05 p.m. ET4 hours ago

Ashley Ahn

Europe moves to back Ukraine after Trump drops cease-fire demand.

Much of Europe moved on Saturday to back Ukraine after President Trump abandoned their joint demand for a cease-fire, but the leaders treaded carefully to not openly contradict Mr. Trump as he aligned himself with Russia’s vision of ending the war.

In a joint statement released after Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met in Alaska, European leaders welcomed Mr. Trump’s efforts to stop the war and his declaration that America would offer future security guarantees after a peace deal.

But it did not echo the position Mr. Trump espoused on Saturday morning that conclusive peace talks were now preferable to an immediate cease-fire that would set the stage for negotiations.

“As long as the killing in Ukraine continues, we stand ready to uphold the pressure on Russia,” the European leaders wrote. “We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy until there is a just and lasting peace.”

The statement was signed by leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, Poland, the European Union and the European Council.

Just days before the summit, Mr. Trump had assured Ukraine and key European allies that he would demand a cease-fire before engaging in serious talks about a more permanent peace deal.

In a complete reversal, Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that, after speaking with Mr. Putin, he believed a peace agreement would be preferable to a cease-fire. He said he had spoken to European leaders by phone and claimed they d his view.

In their own statements, European leaders steered clear of reiterating their cease-fire demands, suggesting an attempt to avoid contradicting Mr. Trump.

Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said in a statement that he welcomed “the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal.” Then, as in the joint statement, he said he was determined to keep increasing economic pressure on Russia until the war ends.

In a similar vein, President Emmanuel Macron of France praised America’s readiness to contribute. But he said it was essential to “maintain pressure on Russia as long as its war of aggression continues” and to remember “Russia’s well-established tendency not to honor its own commitments.”

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister who has an amiable rapport with Mr. Trump, said there was a “glimmer of hope” for efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

In her statement, she said Mr. Trump “took up the Italian idea of security guarantees inspired by Article 5 of NATO.” Under this idea, she said, Ukraine would not become part of NATO, but “a collective security clause” would allow it “to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the U.S., ready to take action if it is attacked again.”

Mr. Zelensky, who will visit the White House on Monday, similarly avoided contradicting the U.S. president’s call for a final peace agreement. But he emphasized the “killings must stop as soon as possible.”

In a subsequent statement posted several hours later, Mr. Zelensky warned that the Kremlin could not be trusted and that Russia could try to launch a new wave of attacks.

“Based on the political and diplomatic situation around Ukraine, and knowing Russia’s treachery, we anticipate that in the coming days the Russian army may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors,” he said.

Kaja Kallas, the E.U.’s top diplomat, echoed Mr. Zelensky’s sentiments. On social media, she argued that Mr. Putin wanted to drag out negotiations while making no commitment to stop the killing.

“The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,” she said.

A unified statement by Nordic and Baltic countries, including NATO’s newest members, Finland and Sweden, was much sharper in tone than the one released earlier by the other European leaders, and a far cry from the warm reception Mr. Putin was given in Alaska by Mr. Trump.

The leaders said they would continue to arm Ukraine and bolster their own defenses in the face of Russian aggression. The statement, by a group of countries either bordering Russia or close enough to feel Moscow’s threat acutely, said there should be no limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, nor should Russia have any say in whether Ukraine joins NATO or the European Union.

“Putin cannot be trusted,” the leaders said, calling for Ukraine to have a seat at the negotiation table.

“Ultimately it is Russia’s responsibility to end its blatant violations of international law,” the statement said. “Russia’s aggression and imperialist ambitions are the root causes of this war.”

Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting.

Aug. 16, 2025, 12:48 p.m. ET4 hours ago

The New York Times

With Putin by his side, Trump repeats his claims of a ‘Russia Hoax.’

With President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia by his side, President Trump on Friday suggested the two men were bonded by a d ordeal, or what Mr. Trump called the “Russia hoax.”

“We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax,” Mr. Trump said during remarks after his meeting in Alaska with Mr. Putin.

Mr. Trump was referring to the investigation during his first term into links between Russia and his presidential campaign in 2016. American intelligence agencies concluded that Mr. Putin had ordered an intelligence operation to benefit Mr. Trump. And Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, determined that Russia had carried out a “sweeping and systematic” attack on the 2016 election.

Mr. Trump has long felt aggrieved by the investigation, and on Friday used his meeting with the Russian leader to draw a link between himself and Mr. Putin.

“I think he’s probably seen things like that during the course of his career. He’s seen — he’s seen it all,” Mr. Trump said. “But we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax.”

He added: “What was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country, in terms of the business, and all of the things that would like to have dealt with. But we’ll have a good chance when this is over.”

Mr. Trump has largely held back from harsh criticism of the Russian president, despite recent complaints about Russian intransigence in ending the war in Ukraine. His affinity for Mr. Putin was on display after Friday’s summit, as the two men put on a show of friendship but left without a breakthrough in peace negotiations.

Ivan Nechepurenko Aug. 16, 2025, 12:00 p.m. ET5 hours ago

Reporting from Moscow

Upon his return to Moscow, Putin convened top Russian officials at the Kremlin to brief them in televised remarks about the meeting in Alaska. He said his conversation with President Trump had been “very frank and informative,” adding that it brought Russia and the United States “closer to the necessary decisions” to end the war in Ukraine. Putin said that he had talked to Trump about the “root causes” of the war — a euphemism for Russia’s historical grievances toward Ukraine that he has used to justify the invasion. Putin said, as he has in the past, that “the elimination of these root causes should be the basis for a settlement.”

Aug. 16, 2025, 10:33 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Constant Méheut

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

Zelensky will meet Trump Monday in Washington to discuss ‘all the details.’

After President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ended inconclusive peace talks in Alaska, Ukraine was left in a position it knows all too well. It was scrambling to piece together what the two leaders had actually discussed, deciphering what they may have agreed on and striving to avoid being sidelined in peace talks.

A call a few hours later from Mr. Trump filled in some of the gaps. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said the phone discussion, which included European leaders, had been “long and substantive” and covered “the main points” of the American leader’s talks with Mr. Putin. Mr. Zelensky added that he would visit Mr. Trump in Washington on Monday “to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”

But even as Mr. Zelensky’s statement suggested a potential path toward a peace deal after months of largely fruitless negotiations, a public statement by Mr. Trump later on Saturday morning raised questions about whether such an opening would be too heavily tilted toward Russia for Ukraine to accept.

Mr. Trump called on social media for a direct peace agreement without securing a cease-fire first, claiming that Mr. Zelensky and European leaders had agreed on the point. His statement was a stark shift from the “principles” agreed upon earlier in the week by Mr. Trump, Mr. Zelensky and his European allies, which called for refusing to discuss peace terms until a cease-fire was in place.

Russia has long pushed for a direct peace deal that would address a broad range of issues and impose onerous demands on Ukraine, including territorial concessions. Avoiding a cease-fire would allow Russia to continue pressing its advantage on the battlefield in the meantime.

An official briefed on the call between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky said the Ukrainian leader’s trip to Washington would aim to seek clarity from Mr. Trump. Kyiv does not understand why the American president suddenly dropped the demand that a cease-fire precede negotiations.

In a statement, Mr. Zelensky seemed to tread carefully, trying not to openly contradict Mr. Trump.

“We need to achieve a real peace that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions,” Mr. Zelensky said. But he added that “the killings must stop as soon as possible, and the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the air, as well as against our port infrastructure,” suggesting that he was still prioritizing a cease-fire.

In statements of their own, European leaders made no mention of having agreed to abandon their demand for a cease-fire. At the same time, the fact that the statements did not include a demand for a cease-fire, as in previous remarks, suggests at the very least an attempt not to antagonize Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump’s move to aim for a direct peace deal could bring to failure a week of frantic diplomacy in which Kyiv, with European support, had lobbied the American administration to insist that a cease-fire should come first and that Ukraine should not be undercut in the negotiations.

Mr. Trump’s social media post caused a feeling of whiplash among some Ukrainians, who quickly reversed their early assessments of the Alaska summit.

Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Ukrainian Parliament, had initially expressed some relief, saying that “the situation could have been worse” if Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin had struck a deal behind Ukraine’s back.

He said that a scenario in which “Trump and Putin started together to pressure Ukraine into surrender” could not have been ruled out given Mr. Trump’s history of deference to Mr. Putin.

But after Mr. Trump’s post on Truth Social, Mr. Merezhko changed his view. “In fact, Putin and Trump are starting to force us into surrender,” he said.

Mr. Trump also proposed security guarantees for Ukraine inspired by the collective defense agreement between NATO member countries, which states that any attack on a member is an attack against all, according to Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister.

Under such guarantees, Ukraine’s NATO allies would be “ready to take action” if Russia attacked again. But Mr. Merezhko and other Ukrainian allies said such a formulation was too vague.

“Which countries will agree to consider an attack against Ukraine as an attack against themselves?” Mr. Merezhko asked. “I’d like to believe that we will find such countries, but I’m not sure.”

Mr. Trump, in an interview with Fox News after the meeting with Mr. Putin, also addressed the idea of territorial swaps, saying they were among the points “that we largely have agreed on.” Mr. Trump had said several times over the past week that territorial concessions would be part of a peace agreement, drawing pushback from Mr. Zelensky.

Mr. Zelensky, however, has not entirely ruled out possible land swaps, telling reporters this week that this is “a very complex issue that cannot be separated from security guarantees for Ukraine.”

Mr. Merezhko, who like many Ukrainian officials was left on tenterhooks by the Alaska meeting, watched the post-meeting news conference live from Kyiv at around 2 a.m. local time.

As both Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin offered only vague statements, Mr. Merezhko said it had become clear that no concrete deal had been reached.

He noted that Mr. Putin had again said that any end to the fighting must address the “root causes” of the war, which is Kremlin parlance for a range of issues that include the existence of Ukraine as a fully independent and sovereign nation aligned with the West.

“I think it’s a failure because Putin was again talking about security concerns and used his usual rhetoric,” Mr. Merezhko said as the news conference came to an end. “I don’t see any changes.”

Vadym Prystaiko, a former foreign affairs minister, said in a phone interview that the summit’s brief duration — it lasted just a few hours and broke up ahead of schedule — indicated limited progress toward peace.

He recalled that during cease-fire negotiations in the first Ukraine-Russia war, which started in 2014, he spent 16 hours in a room with Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko.

The cease-fire that was eventually agreed upon did not last, and fighting soon resumed.

“They didn’t manage to sit enough hours to actually go through all the stuff that is needed to reach a deal,” Mr. Prystaiko said of Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin.

In Kyiv, some emerged Saturday morning from a sleepless night following the news with the sense that the war was likely to continue unabated. After the Alaska summit wrapped up, the Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia had continued its assault on Ukraine, launching 85 drones and one ballistic missile overnight. These figures could not be independently verified.

Tetiana Chamlai, a 66-year-old retiree in Kyiv, said the situation with the war would change only if Ukraine was given more military support, to push Russian forces back enough to force Moscow to the negotiating table. “That’s the only way everything will stop,” she said. “I personally do not see any other way out.”

But Vice President JD Vance made clear this past week that the United States was “done” funding Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion. The Trump administration, however, is fine with Ukraine buying American weapons from U.S. companies, and Mr. Zelensky announced this week that Kyiv had secured $1.5 billion in European funding to purchase American arms.

How long the Ukrainian Army can hold against relentless Russian assaults remains uncertain. Moscow’s forces recently broke through a section of the Ukrainian defenses in the eastern Donbas region, and although their advance has been halted, the swift infiltration has underscored the strain on Ukraine’s stretched lines.

Balazs Jarabik, a former European Union diplomat in Kyiv who now works for R. Politik, a political analysis firm, said that Russia’s upper hand on the battlefield had most likely played a role in Mr. Trump’s agreeing to aim for a peace deal rather than a cease-fire.

“Kyiv and Europe must adapt to a new reality shaped by Washington and Moscow,” he said.

Olha Konovalova contributed reporting.

Aug. 16, 2025, 9:57 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Jeanna Smialek

Kaja Kallas, the E.U.’s top diplomat, said in written comments that “the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,” arguing that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia wanted to drag out negotiations while making no commitment to stop the killing.

She added that “the U.S. holds the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously” — but it’s clear from the rest of her statement that she didn’t think that was happening yet.

Aug. 16, 2025, 9:32 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Vanessa Friedman

In the end there was no deal, but there was a photo op: a dramatic, well-choreographed image of President Trump not just welcoming President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to Alaska on Friday, but rolling out the red carpet, that now-universal symbol of fame, pageantry and pomp.

The two men clasped hands, and then strode to Mr. Trump’s limo, in complementary dark suits — single-breasted, two-button — matching white shirts and coordinating ties (red for Mr. Trump, burgundy for Mr. Putin), giving the impression of kindred spirits: just two statesmen meeting on the semi-neutral ground of an airport tarmac to go talk cease-fire, their respective planes looming in the background.

That’s the picture that was caught by the waiting cameras, and those are the photos that have gone around the world to accompany reports of the nonproductive meeting.

In the absence of an actual resolution to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they have become the takeaway. And that, said both President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, even before the meeting, was Mr. Putin’s goal in the first place.

“He is seeking, excuse me, photos,” Mr. Zelensky said. “He needs a photo from the meeting with President Trump.”

Why? Because whatever happened afterward, a photo could be publicly seen — and read — as an implicit endorsement.

After all, the Russian president has been a virtual pariah in the West since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine; accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Whether or not Mr. Trump was tough with him behind the closed doors of their meeting room — whether or not their talks were, as Mr. Trump later said, “productive” — what has now been preserved for posterity is Mr. Putin’s admission back into the fold.

And of all current world leaders, the only one who understands, and embraces, the power of the image quite as effectively as Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin. Both men have made themselves into caricatures through costume and scenography, the better to capture the popular imagination.

Mr. Trump has done it with his MAGA merch, his red-white-and-blue dressing (the one regularly adopted by members of his cabinet as well as Republicans in Congress), his hair and his showmanship.

Mr. Putin has done it with his orchestrated photo shoots: the ones that capture him braving the snow in Siberia, hugging a polar bear, hunting shirtless. They may look silly (at least from outside) but that doesn’t make them any less effective. Or headline-grabbing.

That Mr. Putin met Mr. Trump in the uniform Mr. Trump embraces made its own kind of statement. The conflict in Ukraine has been in part a battle fought in images for the support of the global imagination; that is why Mr. Zelensky insists on dressing to show solidarity with his fighting forces whenever he speaks to international bodies, be they Congress or the European Union; why his wife posed for the cover of Vogue.

By wearing his suit and tie in Alaska, Mr. Putin cast himself as Mr. Trump’s equal and drew another line between himself and Mr. Zelensky, who famously offended Mr. Trump by wearing his army look to the White House.

Their handshake — which went on for a while and also involved various friendly pats — was a pantomime of acceptance of that idea. And the photo was everyone’s souvenir.

Show more

Aug. 16, 2025, 9:26 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Steven Erlanger

President Trump told European leaders after his meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday in Alaska that he supported a plan to end the war in Ukraine by ceding unconquered territory to the Russian invaders, rather than try for a cease-fire, according to two senior European officials who were briefed on the call.

Mr. Trump will discuss that plan with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Monday at the White House, and there were discussions on Saturday about whether other European officials would join him, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

After his meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump has dropped his demand for an immediate cease-fire and believes a rapid peace treaty can be negotiated, so long as Mr. Zelensky agrees to cede the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops.

Mr. Zelensky and the European leaders have strongly opposed such a concession of unoccupied land, which also contains important defensive lines and is mineral rich. Ukrainian officials have said that a final deal cannot involve Kyiv agreeing to cede any Ukrainian sovereign territory permanently, which would violate the Ukrainian Constitution.

In return, Mr. Putin offered a cease-fire in the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines and a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again, the senior officials said. They pointed out to Mr. Trump that Mr. Putin often broke his written commitments.

It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory, the officials emphasized, adding that international borders must not be changed by force.

Mr. Trump did not mention during the call imposing any further sanctions or economic pressure on Russia, the officials said. But the European leaders emphasized that they would continue sanctions and economic pressure on Russia until the killing stops, one official said.

White House officials did not respond to a request for comment.

On a more positive note, the European officials said, Mr. Trump said that Mr. Putin agreed that Ukraine should have strong security guarantees after a settlement, but not under NATO. American troops might participate, Mr. Trump told the Europeans.

Mr. Putin also asked for guarantees for Russian to become an official language again in Ukraine and security for Russian Orthodox churches, the officials said.

Mr. Trump said he was hopeful on getting a trilateral meeting with Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky, the officials said. But Mr. Putin has so far refused to meet with Mr. Zelensky, considering him an illegitimate president of an artificial country.

Jim Tankersley and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.

Aug. 16, 2025, 7:18 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Constant Méheut

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

It is noteworthy that Kyiv’s European allies, in their various statements after the Alaska meeting, did not mention the need to reach a cease-fire first. It has been one of their key principles.

The approach could be a way to avoid antagonizing President Trump, who said he wanted a direct peace agreement without securing a cease-fire first.

Aug. 16, 2025, 7:01 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Constant Méheut

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a statement about the negotiations, seemed to tread carefully so as not to openly contradict Trump’s call for a direct peace deal over a cease-fire.

“We need to achieve a real peace that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions,” he said. But he added that “the killings must stop as soon as possible, and the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the air, as well as against our port infrastructure,” suggesting that he still prioritizes a cease-fire.

Aug. 16, 2025, 6:52 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Chris Cameron and Maggie Haberman

After his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday, President Trump sat down with the Fox News host Sean Hannity to record an interview in which he offered few details about what the two leaders had said about the war in Ukraine, but talked up their personal connection.

“I think the meeting was a 10,” Mr. Trump said after Mr. Hannity asked how he would rate his talks with the Russian president. “In the sense we got along great, and it’s good when two big powers get along, especially when they’re nuclear powers. We’re No. 1 and they’re No. 2 in the world.”

Without sharing any specific information from the meeting in Alaska, Mr. Trump put the onus for securing peace on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Now it is really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” he said during the interview, which was broadcast later on Fox News. “I would also say the European nations have to get involved a little bit.”

In the interview, Mr. Trump repeatedly praised Mr. Putin, and brought up compliments he received from the Russian leader during the summit.

“I always had a great relationship with President Putin,” Mr. Trump said. “And we would have done great things together.”

He claimed that Mr. Putin had even supported his claim that the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Mr. Trump lost to Joseph R. Biden Jr., was rigged.

“He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” Mr. Trump said, adding that Mr. Putin told him that by-mail voting does not exist anywhere else in the world. Whether Mr. Putin actually said that or not, several countries have by-mail voting. And Mr. Trump’s own attorney general in 2020 said his assertions of widespread fraud couldn’t be proven.

During the interview, Mr. Trump mused about a three-way summit between himself, Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin but said explicitly, “I didn’t ask about it.” Twenty minutes after saying that, Mr. Trump said he had in fact discussed that with Mr. Putin.

“They both want me there,” Mr. Trump said. “And I will be there.”

Mr. Zelensky said on Saturday that he would travel to Washington on Monday to discuss the war with Mr. Trump.

Earlier on Friday, the Ukrainian leader had criticized Russia’s latest attacks and cast doubt on Mr. Putin’s commitment to ending the war. But Mr. Trump told Mr. Hannity that he thinks the Russian leader wants to “solve the problem.”

He did not acknowledge that Mr. Putin had started the war.

Aug. 16, 2025, 6:45 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Constant Méheut

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said in a statement that “President Trump today took up the Italian idea of security guarantees inspired by Article 5 of NATO.” Under this idea, Ukraine would not become part of NATO, but “a collective security clause” would allow it “to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the U.S., ready to take action if it is attacked again,” Meloni said.

The idea could be appealing to Ukraine, which has long sought strong security guarantees to deter Russia from attacking again. But the devil is in the details. Several Ukrainian lawmakers said Meloni’s talk of “taking action” was too vague.

Aug. 16, 2025, 6:09 a.m. ET Aug. 16, 2025

Jim Tankersley

Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said in a statement that he welcomed “the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal.” Then he said, as in the joint statement, that he was determined to keep increasing economic pressure on Russia until the war ends.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY – FROM INDEPENDENT U.K.

‘NO DEAL UNTIL THERE’S A DEAL’: TRUMP AND PUTIN COME TO ‘AGREEMENTS’ OVER UKRAINE BUT NO CEASEFIRE

Putin and Trump emerged after closed-door talks in Anchorage, Alaska, stretched almost three hours

By Andrew Feinberg and Rhian Lubin Saturday 16 August 2025 01:02 BST

Putin says Russia wants end to war in Ukraine

The highly anticipated talks between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin ended with no firm agreement on stopping the three-year war in Ukraine, as both leaders took notably different stances speaking after the high-stakes summit in Alaska.

At what was billed as a press conference following a nearly three-hour meeting between the two leaders and their top aides Friday, Putin attempted to set the terms when he spoke first after both emerged on the stage at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson outside Anchorage.

Putin appeared optimistic about the talks as he said he and Trump had come to ‘agreements’ and described Ukraine — the sovereign nation he invaded and has been pillaging since March 2022 — as Russia’s “brotherly nation” and claimed Russia wants to end the conflict.

By contrast, Trump followed in brief comments and said firmly: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

“I agree with President Trump, as he has said today, that naturally, the security of Ukraine should be ensured as well,” said Putin, via a translator. “Naturally we are prepared to work on that, I would like to hope that the agreement that we've reached together will help us bring closer 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 cautioned, before warning Europe against "backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress.”

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Putin repeated oft-used lines about addressing what he calls the “primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict,”meaning his desire for Ukraine to end any ambitions to integrate with the West by joining the European Union or NATO, and said any settlement in the conflict must “consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe and in world on the whole.”

But moments later, Trump torpedoed Putin's claim to have reached an agreement, telling reporters instead that there were “many points that we agreed on” during the talks but there were still “a couple of big ones that we haven't quite gotten there.”

“So there's no deal until there's a deal,” Trump said.

The president stressed that any future deal would have to receive assent from the Ukrainian government as well as America's NATO allies, and said he'd be “calling up ... the various people that I think are appropriate,” as well as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to read them in on what transpired behind closed doors today.

Trump added that the meeting, in his estimation, had been “very productive” and included “many points” that had been agreed to, and said there was a "good chance" of reaching some sort of accord going forward.

A second meeting has been floated in recent days by Trump but has not been confirmed.

Putin suggested to Trump in English: “Next time in Moscow,” which the president said he could “get a little heat” for but added he could see it “possibly happening.”

The leaders did not take questions from reporters and swiftly walked off the stage.

There was no mention of a possible land swap of Ukrainian territories that Trump previously suggested, which he said would be “to the betterment of both” sides.

The reality that Ukraine will lose territory in a peace agreement has been accepted by Zelensky in recent months.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, conceded Friday that Ukraine may have to “give up territory” as a temporary solution towards peace.

“One of the scenarios is… to give up territory. It's not fair. But for the peace, temporary peace, maybe it can be a solution, temporary,” Klitschko told the BBC. But he stressed that the Ukrainian people would "never accept occupation" by Russia.

Russia occupies about a fifth of Ukraine, from the country’s northeast to the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed illegally in 2014.

The front line is vast and cuts across six regions — the active front stretches for at least 1,000 kilometres (680 miles) — but if measured from along the border with Russia, it reaches as far as 2,300 kilometres (1,430 miles).

ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE – FROM FOX

PUTIN APPEARS TO BE VISIBLY ANNOYED AS REPORTERS BARRAGE HIM AND TRUMP WITH QUESTIONS

Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday

By Rachel Wolf  August 16, 2025 9:58am EDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin was not shy about showing apparent disdain for members of the press who clamored to ask him questions at the high-stakes summit in Alaska.

For President Donald Trump, such media scrutiny was nothing out of the ordinary, but Putin appeared to make it clear he was unhappy with the display. As reporters tried to grab the leaders’ attention, Putin — a former Soviet KGB intelligence officer — seemed to be visibly annoyed.

Heading into the summit, Trump faced pressure from leaders at home and abroad to secure a deal with Putin and end the hostilities. Even former Trump rival Hillary Clinton acknowledged the gravity of the moment, saying she would nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize if he secured a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Despite a rocky relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump has managed to coordinate with both him and Putin.

Before Friday’s U.S.-Russia summit, Zelenskyy met with European leaders and took part in a session of the "Coalition of the Willing," which Vice President JD Vance also attended. Additionally, on Wednesday, Trump met virtually with European leaders to prepare for the pivotal talks.

TRUMP REVEALS 10 STRIKING TAKEAWAYS FROM PUTIN SUMMIT IN HANNITY INTERVIEW

Although Putin and Trump failed to reach a deal Friday, the meeting was widely viewed as a successful step forward.

Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview that the meeting was "very good" and that Putin "wants to see it done." However, the president declined to what sticking point stopped them from reaching a deal. 

European leaders praised Trump in a joint statement signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and others.

"Leaders welcomed President Trump’s efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia’s war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace," the statement read. The leaders also reiterated their stance that "Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with Trump in Washington, D.C., on Monday. He said in a post on X that he and Trump will "discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war." 

Trump and Zelenskyy — who was not invited to the Alaska summit — have signaled willingness for a trilateral meeting with Putin. But Putin has shown no movement toward such talks.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy said he urged Trump to strengthen sanctions if Putin refuses to join a trilateral meeting, echoing Trump’s earlier warning that Russia would face "very severe" economic consequences if it derailed the peace process.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO – FROM THE NEW YORK POST

PUTIN TRIES TO WOO TRUMP AT ALASKA MEETING, CLAIMS HE WOULDN’T HAVE INVADED UKRAINE IF BIDEN HADN’T BEEN PRESIDENT

By Caitlin Doornbos and Victor Nava Published Aug. 15, 2025 Updated Aug. 16, 2025, 12:32 a.m. ET

Russian President Vladimir Putin — an ex-KGB agent and master manipulator — attempted to woo President Trump after their hours-long meeting by claiming he would not have invaded Ukraine if former President Biden hadn’t been in office after the “rigged” 2020 election.

”I’d like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,” Putin said following his meeting with Trump. “And I said it quite directly back then.

”That’s a big mistake today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the president back then, there will be no war — and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be, so I can confirm that.”

Trained in strategic communications during his time as a KGB agent for the Soviet Union, Putin is known for attempting to manipulate world leaders with flattery.

”I think that, overall, me and President Trump have built a very good business-like [relationship],” he added.

Trump has often said that he believed Putin would not have invaded if he were president in 2022, but he did not appear to take the dictator’s bait during Friday’s press conference.

While he called Putin’s nine-minute pre-written speech “profound,” Trump did not mention his longstanding talking point after the Russian leader’s assertion.

Instead, Trump subtly reminded Putin that he would not be making any business deals with Russia until the Kremlin ends its three-year war on Ukraine, pointing out the US’ leverage.

“We … have some tremendous Russian business representatives here, and I think everybody wants to deal with us. We’ve become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time,” he said. “We look forward to dealing — we’re going to try and get this over with.

“… We’ll have a good chance when this is over.”

However, the president did say he was pleased by Putin’s remarks about Biden when speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the high-stakes meeting.

“I was very happy to hear him say, if I was president, that war would have never happened,” Trump said.

“It was stupid … Biden was a terrible president in so many ways. He should have never let it happen.”

Behind closed doors, Putin blamed mail-in voting for Trump’s 2020 election loss, the president revealed on “Hannity.”

“You know, Vladimir Putin said something, one of the most interesting things: He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” he said. “He said, ‘No country has mail-in voting. It’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.’

“‘You won that election by so much,’” Putin told the president, according to Trump, “‘You lost it because of mail-in voting.’”

Trump confirmed that Putin provided him with specific reasons behind his invasion of Ukraine during Biden’s administration — but refused to reveal them.

“It doesn’t matter at this point, but this war should never have happened,” he reiterated, before later adding, “I know the reason – it’s gross incompetence.”

ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE – FROM THE NATIONAL REVIEW

THE ‘NO DEAL’ SUMMIT AND THE PATH TO PEACE IN UKRAINE

August 16, 2025 12:52 PM

The optics of diplomacy are often not for the squeamish. The enthusiasm, whether real, feigned, or a bit of both, with which Donald Trump greeted Vladimir Putin in Alaska made a nauseating contrast with the horrors of daily life in Ukraine.

In a just world, Ukraine would regain the territory stolen from it since 2014, receive massive reparations from Russia, and be admitted to NATO. But Russia will not give up its ill-gotten gains any time soon, whether by force or voluntarily, and it is likely to be years, if ever, before Ukraine will be able to join NATO. Faced with that reality, Western policymakers should concentrate on doing what they can to secure the independence of the 80 percent of Ukraine that remains under Kyiv’s control. If some New York City realtor–style schmooze brings Ukraine closer to that goal, so be it.

The talks themselves yielded little of substance, which was probably why, once Putin and Trump had addressed the media after their meeting, they didn’t take any questions. Despite that, the meeting, described by Trump as “very productive,” was in a sense substantive. There were signs that each man believes that he can do business with the other. The language that Trump used to describe the absence of progress contained no hint of a slammed door: “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.”

The identity of those “big” points remains unknown, however. Putin’s insistence that, while he was “sincerely interested” (how kind) in ending the war, all its “primary causes” had to be eliminated, is a requirement hard to reconcile with genuine Ukrainian independence, and thus peace.

At the same time, despite apparent schmoozing on Putin’s part too (for example, he evidently agreed with Trump that the 2020 election had been stolen), the U.S. president demonstrated that he was, contrary to some fears, prepared to end the talks without an agreement. “There is no deal,” he said, “until there is a deal.”

Nevertheless, Putin can claim wins of more consequence than a photo-op. Above all he dodged any requirement to pay a fresh price for his failure to agree to a cease-fire. This is a significant climbdown by Trump. Earlier he had talked of “very severe consequences” if Putin had failed to agree to a cease-fire at the summit, which followed his demands in late July that Putin should do so within “ten to twelve days” (previously the president had referred to 50 days) or face “very severe” tariffs and other sanctions. These had been expected to include “secondary” sanctions on countries such as China that bought Russian oil (some have already been imposed on India), but further extending such sanctions is off the agenda for “two or three weeks.”

This matters. Without a preliminary cease-fire it will be hard to proceed to the more formal armistice that remains the most likely form of eventual peace deal. Trump’s later comments that it was now up to Ukraine’s President Zelensky (with some help from the Europeans) to secure that cease-fire should not be read too literally.  The president will clearly remain involved in the peace process. But for any American intervention to be successful, before long it will (however chummy the talks in Alaska) have to involve more stick as well as carrot.

Putin almost certainly believes that he can win a war of attrition against Ukraine. Even agreeing to hold these talks was, if only partially, an element in a broader effort to string the U.S. along as Russia’s forces gnaw away at Ukraine. Trump should remember that while patience is a virtue, being a patsy is not. In the aftermath of the meetings, he wants to hold off on further sanctions for now. That’s fine, but, in the absence of progress toward a cease-fire, in fairly short order he should resume turning the sanctions ratchet.

Overall, we can only repeat the views that we set out ahead of the talks. In exchange for a durable armistice, Russia can be handed concessions, however undeserved, above all in the form of the de facto acceptance of its control of the territory that Moscow has seized since 2014 (de jure recognition should remain off the menu unless granted by Ukraine), but also the gradual relaxation of sanctions.

We add that proviso because we remain convinced that Putin’s longer-term ambitions will not be satisfied by merely hanging onto the territory Russia has grabbed since 2014. Accordingly, if any armistice between Moscow and Kyiv is to amount to more than an interlude before Russia returns to the fray, it must be backed up by continued Western support for Ukraine. And the West itself — in the form of a reinvigorated NATO under U.S. leadership — must remain united.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR – FROM FOX

CHINA EYES TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING, GAUGES WEST’S RESOLVE ON UKRAINE

Security experts warns 'if aggression pays in Europe, deterrence discounts in Asia'

By Caitlin McFall Fox News Published August 16, 2025 8:00am EDT

Security experts are sounding the alarm that China and the rest of the international community are closely watching how President Donald Trump interacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their meeting in Alaska Friday.

The White House said in the lead-up to the talks that the meeting was a "listening exercise," and Trump confirmed he would make neither deals nor concessions when speaking with Putin.

But security experts have warned that this meeting will have consequences beyond the war in Ukraine.

"Since China acts as a consistent supporter and enabler of Russia, of course they are watching the talks regarding Ukraine very closely," Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė told Fox News Digital during her trip to Washington, D.C., this week.

"Any concession would no doubt serve as an incentive for the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to undertake a hostile path in the Indo-Pacific as the risk of dire consequences would be perceived as significantly lower." 

Trump said he would call his European and Ukrainian counterparts immediately after the Anchorage-based talks and that he hoped the next step would be for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin to meet in person, possibly along with Trump and other European leaders.

NATO DEFENSE MINISTER SIGNALS ‘ABSOLUTE DISTRUST’ THAT PUTIN WANTS ANY PEACE DEAL AHEAD OF TRUMP SUMMIT

But there also remains speculation over whether the president will look to cut his own deal with Russia, namely in the field of critical minerals, with Trump looking to counter Chinese competition.

Trump on Thursday wouldn’t answer questions about whether he is going to seek a critical minerals deal with Putin, instead telling reporters, "We're going to see what happens with that meeting."

But the optics of Trump cutting a business deal with Russia while Putin refuses to end his deadly ambitions in Ukraine could be seen as aiding Moscow’s war chest and could further signal to Chinese President Xi Jinping that Trump values "deals over deterrence," one East Asian geopolitical strategy expert warned.

"Beijing will read any permissive deal as expanding latitude for gray-zone pressure on Taiwan, which could strain allied trust in perceived U.S. red lines," Craig Singleton, China Program senior director and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.  

"China will exploit that doubt, amplifying a ‘deals-over-deterrence’ narrative and probing coordination gaps from Tokyo and Seoul to Manila.

COULD TRUMP'S MEETING WITH PUTIN BE THE NEXT REAGAN-GORBACHEV MOMENT?

"If Washington is perceived as ‘selling out’ Ukraine, Beijing will learn a simple lesson: Coercion pays and costs are containable," Singleton added. "In that case, Beijing may step up [military] incursions around Taiwan and intensify gray-zone pressure to gauge just how much stability Washington will trade for silence."

But there is one more element to the meetings that has security experts worried – Zelenskyy’s absence. 

Though the meeting was apparently pushed by Putin, who has thus far refused to meet with Zelenskyy despite the Ukrainian president’s calls to do so, his absence when discussing a war taking place on his nation’s soil could speak volumes to China.

"From Beijing’s perspective, leaving Zelenskyy out widens the lane for a face-saving freeze that locks in Russia's battlefield gains, an implicit nod that great powers can revise borders by force," Singleton said. "Beijing will quietly welcome it and note that Washington entertained settlement talks without Kyiv, a precedent it will pocket for Asia."

Ultimately, he argued, "If aggression pays in Europe, deterrence discounts in Asia."

"For Beijing, the Alaska meeting is the message. Great powers bargaining over smaller states normalizes the world order Chinese leader Xi Jinping prefers," Singleton added.

Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE – FROM AL JAZEERA

TRUMP TO MEET UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY AFTER ‘SUCCESSFUL’ TALKS WITH PUTIN

US president changes his position on Ukraine, saying he prefers a direct peace accord as opposed to ceasefire after Alaska talks.

Published On 16 Aug 2025

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet United States President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on Monday to discuss an end to the more than three-year war in Ukraine, a meeting announced hours after Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska ended without a concrete deal.

In a post on his Truth Social platform after holding phone conversations with European Union and NATO leaders, Trump said the talks with Putin on Friday “went very well”.

Trump-Putin summit ends with no ceasefire deal

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“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” Trump wrote.

Speaking to top officials in Moscow a day after the talks in Alaska, Putin said the talks had been “timely” and “very useful”, according to the Kremlin.

“We have not had direct negotiations of this kind at this level for a long time,” he said, adding: “We had the opportunity to calmly and in detail reiterate our position.”

“The conversation was very frank, substantive and, in my opinion, brings us closer to the necessary decisions,” Putin said.

Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Moscow, said the talks have been largely considered a success in Russia.

“Trump’s remarks on the need for a larger peace agreement fall in line with what Putin has been saying for the last few months,” he said.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian leader and his European allies, who have been seeking a ceasefire, welcomed the Trump-Putin talks but emphasised the need for a security guarantee for Kyiv.

Zelenskyy, who was publicly berated by Trump and his officials during his last Oval Office meeting in February, said, “I am grateful for the invitation.” The Ukrainian leader said he had a “long and substantive conversation with Trump” after the summit.

“In my conversation with President Trump, I said that sanctions should be tightened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia evades an honest end to the war,” the Ukrainian leader said.

He said Ukraine needs a real, long-lasting peace and not “just another pause” between Russian offensives.

“Security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term, with the involvement of both Europe and the US,” he said on X after a call with the European leaders.

Zelenskyy stressed that territorial issues can only be decided with Ukraine.

Trilateral meeting

In his first public comments after the Alaska talks, Zelenskyy said he supported Trump’s proposal for a meeting involving Ukraine, the US and Russia, adding that Kyiv is “ready for constructive cooperation”.

“Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace,” the Ukrainian president posted on X.

But Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian state television on Saturday that a potential meeting involving Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy had not been raised during the US-Russia discussions.

“The topic has not been touched upon yet,” Ushakov said, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Trump rolled out the red carpet on Friday for Putin, who was in the US for the first time in a decade, but he gave little concrete detail afterwards of what was discussed.

Trump said in Alaska that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal” after Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress”.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Kyiv, said Trump has been heavily criticised by the US media over the meeting in Alaska.

“They are concerned about what has been described as far more of a conciliatory tone by Trump towards Putin without coming out of that meeting with even a ceasefire,” he said.

Stratford said eyes are now on Monday’s meeting in Washington, DC, as Zelenskyy and Trump try to set up a trilateral summit with Putin.

“If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin,” the US president said.

During an interview with the Fox News channel after the talks, Trump insisted that the onus going forward might be on Zelenskyy “to get it done,” but he said there would also be some involvement from European nations.

Meanwhile, several European leaders on Saturday jointly pledged to continue support for Ukraine and maintain pressure on Russia until the war in Ukraine ends.

In a statement, EU leaders, including the French president and German chancellor, outlined key points in stopping the conflict.

They said: “Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine‘s path to the EU and NATO, the statement said. “It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday that the US is ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine.

“[The] good news is that America is ready to participate in such security guarantees and is not leaving it to the Europeans alone,” Merz told the German public broadcaster ZDF after being briefed together with other European leaders by Trump on his talks with Putin.

The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden said in a statement that achieving peace between Ukraine and Russia requires a ceasefire and security guarantees for Ukraine.

“We welcome President Trump’s statement that the US is prepared to participate in security guarantees. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with other countries,” the statement said.

The ebb and flow of the battlefield lines in Ukraine have taken on greater political significance as Trump pushes for an end to the war, with Russia advancing in Donetsk oblast, part of the Donbas region .

Zelenskyy had revealed on Tuesday that Russia wanted Ukraine to withdraw from the the remaining 30 percent of Donetsk that it still controls as part of a deal, stating that he would not agree on the basis that it was unconstitutional and that it would incentivise Russian aggression.

Ahead of Putin’s meeting with Trump, he had played down Russian advances in the region, as its troops reportedly closed in on the strategic town of Pokrovsk, having seized the village of Yablunivka and the settlement of Oleksandrohrad.

On Saturday, as Russia’s Defence Ministry said that it had taken control of the village of Kolodyazi in Donetsk, he maintained in a post on X that Ukrainian troops were “defending our positions along the entire front line”, achieving “successes in some extremely difficult areas in the Donetsk region”.

On other fronts, Russia’s Defence Ministry also said on Saturday that it controlled Vorone in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

The Ukrainian military said that it had pushed Russian forces back by about 2km (1.2 miles) on part of the Sumy front in northern Ukraine, with fighting raging near the villages of Oleksiivka and Yunakivka, which both lie close to the Russian border.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SIX – FROM HINDUSTAN TIMES

FOX NEWS REPORTER BRUTALLY REVIEWS TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT; SAYS KREMLIN BOSS ‘CAME IN AND STEAMROLLED’ POTUS

By Tuhin Das Mahapatra Published on: Aug 16, 2025 08:02 am IST

The Alaska summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ended in confusion, with Fox News journalists suggesting Russian Prez dominated the event.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's Alaska summit ended in confusion Friday, as Fox News journalists described the joint press conference at a military base as awkward, poorly managed, and politically lopsided.

The summit was billed as a chance to restart talks over Ukraine, where Russia’s invasion has caused immense human suffering and civilian deaths.

ALSO READ| Putin's bizarre reaction to 'when will you stop killing' question before Trump meeting - Watch

Fox News reporter s, ‘Everyone else in this room were surprised’

Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, reporting directly from the event, did not hold back her assessment. Speaking to Brian Kilmeade, she acknowledged the frustration in the room: “You and me and everyone else in this room were surprised.”

“We were told we would have an opportunity to put questions to both leaders after a joint press conference in the event the meeting went well enough that they could set the stage for a second meeting,” she explained.

“And President Trump said if that didn’t happen, he was likely to call off the joint presser and just address the media solo and send people home. Neither of those things happened.”

What followed stunned Heinrich. “You had Putin come out and address the press first. We are on U.S. soil here. And that left the media scrambling to get their headsets in. Usually, it is the leader of the country, the host country of a summit, that speaks first and addresses. Putin started off in Russian. And we all had to get our heads set on and listen to him rattle off the diatribe about the history of the U.S. and Russia,” she said.

“The way that it felt in the room was not good. It did not seem like things went well, and it seemed like Putin came in and steamrolled, got right into what he wanted to say. And got his photo next to the president and then left.”

Trump's former aide says ‘Putin clearly won’

John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, told CNN, “Trump did not lose, but Putin clearly won.” He argued that the Russian president walked away with the outcomes he wanted: no new sanctions, no firm ceasefire agreement, and no meaningful updates for Ukraine.

“It’s far from over, but I’d say Putin achieved most of what he wanted. Trump achieved very little.”

Notably, following the summit, Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, said, “Look, as far as I'm concerned, there's no deal until there's a deal. But we did make a lot of progress.”

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SEVEN – FROM OMMCOMM NEWS (INDIA)

WESTERN MEDIA ON VERGE OF COMPLETE MADNESS OVER PUTIN-TRUMP MEETING: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON

August 16, 2025

Moscow: The Western media, which have been broadcasting about Russia’s isolation for three years, are in a state of insanity, bordering on complete madness, against the backdrop of the ceremonial meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump in the US held on Friday in Alaska, state media reported quoting Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson.

This statement was made by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in her Telegram channel, commenting on the meeting of the leaders of the two countries in Alaska, Russian news agency TASS reported.

“Western media are in a state that can be called insanity, bordering on complete madness: for three years they talked about Russia’s isolation, and today they saw the red carpet that greeted the Russian President in the United States,” the diplomat emphasised as reported by TASS.

Earlier, Putin and Trump began a three-on-three meeting without the traditional summit opening remarks open to the press.

The talks themselves are being held behind closed doors.

The Presidents are sitting opposite each other against the backdrop of a brand wall decorated with the words “Alaska 2025” in English and the slogans “Striving for Peace”.

Putin and Trump, on Friday, held a crucial meeting at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage, Alaska, which is still underway for more than an hour, TASS reported.

The talks are being held in a three-on-three format, but the leaders of the two countries began communicating on the airfield after arriving in Alaska, TASS reported.

Putin and Trump left their planes almost simultaneously and got into the American leader’s Cadillac, where they had a private conversation on the way to the talks.

The Russian leader’s plane landed at the military base at 21:54 Moscow time (10:54 local time), TASS media reported.

Trump’s “Air Force One” landed there shortly before.

The welcoming ceremony on the airfield began at 22:10 Moscow time, and official negotiations with representatives of the delegations of both sides began 15 minutes later.

Earlier on Friday, the red carpet was given a final clean before President Trump stepped out of Air Force One at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to meet Putin to discuss the end of the war in Ukraine.

Despite being arranged in just a few days, Friday’s high-stakes meeting is unfolding with the kind of strict protocol usually seen at long-planned summits.

Everything from the timing of the arrivals to the exact parking spots of the planes has been carefully negotiated.

Neither leader wants to appear to be waiting for the other. While Trump arrived first, he remained on board until Putin was ready to greet him.

The red carpet, a traditional sign of respect, is also framed by a display of US military power four F-22 Raptor fighter jets lined up alongside it.

At events like this, no image or moment is left to chance.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov will accompany President Putin for his landmark talks with US President Trump.

“The Russian officials accompanying President Vladimir Putin in the talks with the US delegation will be foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,” Russia state media report said, quoting the Kremlin.

This comes after Washington announced at the last minute that the leaders would not be meeting alone.

Wearing his signature red tie, Trump walked down the red carpet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and waited for Putin’s arrival.

Both leaders, dressed in dark suits, shook hands firmly before walking side by side down the carpet, greeted by cheers from people gathered on the tarmac.

Trump offered a brief salute as US military aircraft roared overhead.

The tarmac at Elmendorf Air Base welcomed Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. A red carpet, arranged in an L-shape, leads the way to a platform marked “ALASKA 2025”. Lining the carpet are four F-22 Raptor fighter jets a striking sight, given that squadrons stationed at Elmendorf are tasked with intercepting Russian aircraft that approach US airspace.

According to the White House, Trump met Alaska’s two US Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan along with Governor Mike Dunleavy.

Trump’s one-on-one meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first term were shrouded in a degree of mystery. With only a translator inside the room, it was often unclear what exactly was discussed.

The addition of two aides to Friday’s session — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff — could allow for greater clarity once the meeting concludes, particularly if Russia offers an accounting of events that differs from the US perspective.

The White House has said that Trump will not be alone for his meeting with Putin, and will instead be joined by Rubio and Witkoff.

The post-meeting lunch will also be attended by Rubio, Witkoff, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

(IANS)

ATTACHMENT THIRTY EIGHT – FROM PHILLIPINE NEWS AGENCY

PUTIN, TRUMP COMPLETE 3-HOUR CONSTRUCTIVE, USEFUL TALKS

August 16, 2025, 10:47 am

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States have held closed-door talks in Alaska.

The meeting, which began with a brief conversation on the red carpet on the tarmac in Anchorage, lasted more than three hours.

Putin and Trump made statements to the media after the talks.

Putin suggested their next meeting be held in Moscow, and Trump said it was possible, even though he would have to face strong criticism.

TASS has gathered the key takeaways from what the Russian president said.

Russia-US relations

• The talks with Trump were useful and constructive: "Our talks took place in a trustful and constructive atmosphere and were quite substantive and useful."

• In recent years, Russia-US relations fell "to their lowest since the Cold War," he said. "As you know, Russia and the US have not held summits for over four years, which is a long time. That wasn’t an easy period in bilateral relations, which, let’s face it, fell to their lowest since the Cold War, which benefits neither our countries nor the world in general."

• Russia-US trade started to grow under Trump, even though the growth rate is not high at this point. "Our trade started to grow after the new US administration came to power. So far, it’s merely symbolic, but it’s still a rise of 20 percent. I mean that we have a lot of promising areas for joint work."

• Russia and the US have a lot to offer each other in various areas of cooperation. "Russia-US business and investment cooperation clearly has a lot of potential. Russia and the US have a lot to offer each other in trade, the energy sector, the digital industry, high technology and space exploration. Arctic cooperation also looks relevant, as well as the resumption of interregional ties, particularly between Russia’s Far East and the US West Coast."

Ukraine settlement

• The agreements reached in Alaska "will be the starting point for resolving the Ukraine issue" and improving Russia-US relations.

• Russia has always seen the people of Ukraine as brotherly and the current developments as tragic and painful.

• Russia is interested in putting an end to the Ukraine crisis: "Our country is sincerely interested in ending it all."

• Russia is ready to work to ensure Ukraine’s security: "I agree with President Trump – he has spoken about it today – that Ukraine’s security also needs to be ensured. We are certainly ready to work on that."

• The understanding reached with Trump will pave the way for peace in Ukraine, the Russian leader hopes.

• The conflict in Ukraine would have never started had Donald Trump been the president of the United States in 2022. "I remember that during my last contact with the previous (US) administration in 2022, I tried to convince my then American counterpart that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return, where it would come to hostilities. And I said it quite directly back then that it's a big mistake. Today, when President Trump says that if he had been president, there would have been no war, I'm quite sure that's the way it would have been. I can confirm that."

• An end to the conflict in Ukraine is secured, "the sooner the better."

On good-neighborly relations

• Holding a Russia-US summit in Alaska is logical because the two countries are neighbors: "It’s quite logical to meet here because our countries are close neighbors despite being separated by oceans."

• Russia is grateful to the US for its respect for the memory of the Soviet soldiers buried in Alaska. "Soviet pilots who died during their heroic mission (while flying aircraft from the US to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease Program - TASS) are buried in a military cemetery just a few kilometers from here. We are grateful to the US authorities and citizens for respecting their memory. This is noble and dignified behavior. (TASS)

ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE – FROM BELTA (BELARUS)

USHAKOV UNSURE OF TIMING FOR NEXT PUTIN-TRUMP MEETING

16 August 2025, 11:26

MINSK, 16 August (BelTA) - Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov stated in his comments to the Russian television that he currently has no information regarding when the next meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. leader Donald Trump might take place, TASS reports.

Responding to the question, the Russian President’s aide said: “I don't know yet”. “The U.S. president said he would call his counterparts and discuss the results of these talks with them,” Yury Ushakov said. “Then we'll decide how to proceed.”

ATTACHMENT FORTY – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

TRUMP BACKS PLAN TO CEDE LAND FOR PEACE IN UKRAINE

After meeting the Russian president, President Trump told European leaders he now favors giving up territory Ukraine controls to Russia to end the fighting, a concession Ukraine has long opposed.

Jim Tankersley Ivan Nechepurenko and Steven Erlanger Aug. 16, 2025 Updated 5:00 p.m. ET

President Trump on Saturday split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, backing Mr. Putin’s plan for a sweeping peace agreement based on Ukraine ceding territory it controls to Russia, instead of the urgent cease-fire Mr. Trump had said he wanted before the meeting.

Skipping cease-fire discussions would give Russia an advantage in the talks, which are expected to continue on Monday when President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visits Mr. Trump at the White House. It breaks from a strategy Mr. Trump and European allies, as well as Mr. Zelensky, had agreed to before the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska.

Mr. Trump told European leaders that he believed a rapid peace deal could be negotiated if Mr. Zelensky agreed to give up the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops, according to two senior European officials briefed on the call.

In return, Mr. Putin offered a cease-fire in the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines and a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again, the senior officials said. He has broken similar promises before.

Mr. Trump had threatened stark economic penalties if Mr. Putin left the meeting without a deal to end the war, but he has suspended those threats in the wake of the summit.

The American president’s moves got a chilly reception in Europe, where leaders have time and again seen Mr. Trump reverse positions on Ukraine after speaking with Mr. Putin.

Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social early on Saturday that he had spoken by phone to Mr. Zelensky and some European leaders after his meeting with Mr. Putin. He claimed “it was determined by all” that it was better to go directly to negotiating a peace agreement without first implementing a cease-fire.

European leaders, publicly and privately, made clear that was not the case. They issued a statement that did not echo Mr. Trump’s claim that peace talks were preferable to a cease-fire. Britain, France, Germany and others threatened to increase economic penalties on Russia “as long as the killing in Ukraine continues.”

Mr. Zelensky, who was left out of the Alaska summit, said in a statement that he and Mr. Trump would on Monday “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”

Here’s what else to know:

· Zelensky’s challenge: Ukraine was left scrambling to piece together what Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin had discussed and striving to avoid being sidelined. Mr. Zelensky is heading to Washington on Monday. An official briefed on his call with Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky said Kyiv does not understand why the American president suddenly dropped the demand that a cease-fire precede negotiations. Read more ›

· European response: European leaders moved to support Ukraine and voice caution of Russia. They neither endorsed Mr. Trump’s changed stance on how to achieve peace nor openly contradicted it. A virtual meeting between the leaders of France, Britain, and Germany is set for Sunday.

· Russia’s advantage: Mr. Trump’s swing into alignment with Russia’s vision of ending the war came as Moscow’s forces have the upper hand on the battlefield. Discarding the prospect of a cease-fire allows Russia to press that advantage further. Read more ›

Aug. 16, 2025, 4:12 p.m. ET1 hour ago

Ashley Ahn

Breaking news reporter

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada praised President Trump for “creating the opportunity to end Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” and agreeing to provide security guarantees to Ukraine after a peace deal. He also said Canada would intensify its support for Ukraine and is working closely with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. His statement aligned with much of Europe’s response to the Alaska summit, cautiously avoiding contradicting Trump’s decision to prioritize a sweeping peace deal over an immediate cease-fire, while showing firm support of Ukraine.

Aug. 16, 2025, 2:43 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Michael Schwirtz

Putin keeps talking about the ‘root causes’ of the war. What does he mean?

When he appeared onstage with President Trump after their summit in Alaska, and again on Saturday at the Kremlin, President Vladimir V. Putin trotted out what has become a well-worn turn of phrase, declaring that any solution to the war in Ukraine must address its “root causes.”

Mr. Putin has uttered the phrase — “pervoprichiny” in Russian — in just about every conversation concerning the war going back at least to February, when he used it in his first phone call with Mr. Trump after he returned to the presidency. It has become shorthand for the Russian president’s unwavering vision of Ukraine’s future.

Often, he and his deputies use the phrase with little or no explanation, as if its meaning were self-evident. “We are convinced that for the Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-lasting, all root causes of the crisis must be eliminated,” Mr. Putin said on Friday in Alaska, without elaborating.

What exactly is Mr. Putin talking about? The “root causes” refers to Russia’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine — a concoction of Mr. Putin’s grievances over Ukraine’s political and historical choices that is hard to parse even for Eastern European experts.

But at its heart is Mr. Putins fixation with NATO’s expansion after the Cold War ended into what he believes should be Russia’s sphere of influence, and his desire to have a pliable, pro-Russia government in Kyiv.

Perhaps the closest Mr. Putin came to defining these root causes of late came in June 2024, when he outlined the conditions that he thought must be met for Russia to enter into a cease-fire agreement with Ukraine.

These included Ukrainian withdrawal from four Ukrainian regions Mr. Putin declared officially part of Russia in September 2022, even though his troops do not control all the territory in any of these regions.Ukraine, he said at the time, must also abandon its long-stated aspirations to join NATO, and the West must lift all sanctions imposed on Russia.

Mr. Putin’s continued use of the phrase, despite the exertions of the Trump administration to bring about the war’s end, suggest that for the Russian president little has changed since he first announced the start of what he described was a “special military operation” in the early hours of Feb. 24, 2022.

The Ukrainian leadership under President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he had hoped to decapitate in the war’s first days and replace with a pro-Russia regime, remains in place. And NATO, the expansion of which Mr. Putin described as an existential threat when he sent troops into Ukraine, has only grown larger, gaining Sweden and Finland, which has a long border with Russia.

Aug. 16, 2025, 2:33 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Michael Schwirtz

Eight Baltic and Nordic countries, including NATO’s newest members, Finland and Sweden, declared in a unified statement on Saturday that they would continue to arm Ukraine and bolster their own defenses in the face of Russian aggression.

“Putin cannot be trusted,” they wrote in the statement, released a day after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met with President Trump in Alaska. The statement by a group of countries either bordering Russia or close enough to feel Moscow’s threat acutely was much sharper in tone than one released earlier on Saturday by the European Union, and far from the warm reception Putin received in Alaska. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces nor should Russia have any say in whether Ukraine joins NATO or the European Union, the Baltic and Nordic statement said, dismissing Putin’s central demands.

Aug. 16, 2025, 2:30 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Peter Baker

Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent and a former Moscow co-bureau chief for The Washington Post, reported from Anchorage.

News Analysis

Trump bows to Putin’s approach on Ukraine.

On the flight to Alaska, President Trump declared that if he did not secure a cease-fire in Ukraine during talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, “I’m not going to be happy,” and there would be “severe consequences.”

Just hours later, he got back on Air Force One and departed Alaska without the cease-fire he deemed so critical. Yet he had imposed no consequences, and had pronounced himself so happy with how things went with Mr. Putin that he said “the meeting was a 10.”

Even in the annals of Mr. Trump’s erratic presidency, the Anchorage meeting with Mr. Putin now stands out as a reversal of historic proportions. Mr. Trump abandoned the main goal he brought to his subarctic summit and, as he revealed on Saturday, would no longer even pursue an immediate cease-fire. Instead, he bowed to Mr. Putin’s preferred approach of negotiating a broader peace agreement requiring Ukraine to give up territory.

The net effect was to give Mr. Putin a free pass to continue his war against his neighbor indefinitely without further penalty, pending time-consuming negotiations for a more sweeping deal that appears elusive at best. Instead of a halt to the slaughter — “I’m in this to stop the killing,” Mr. Trump had said on the way to Alaska — the president left Anchorage with pictures of him and Mr. Putin joshing on a red carpet and in the presidential limousine known as the Beast.

“He got played again,” said Ivo Daalder, who was ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama. “For all the promises of a cease-fire, of severe economic consequences, of being disappointed, it took two minutes on the red carpet and 10 minutes in the Beast for Putin to play Trump again. What a sad spectacle.”

Mr. Trump’s allies focused on his plans to convene a three-way meeting with Mr. Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. “Let me tell you, I’ve never been more hopeful this war can end honorably and justly than I am right now,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a leading hawk on the Ukraine war, said on Fox News Friday night.

The cease-fire that Mr. Trump gave up in Alaska had been so important to him last month that he threatened tough new economic sanctions if Russia did not pause the war within 50 days. Then he moved the deadline up to last Friday. Now there is no cease-fire, no deadline and no sanctions plan.

Mr. Trump, characteristically, declared victory nonetheless, deeming the meeting “a great and very successful day in Alaska.” After calling Mr. Zelensky and European leaders from Air Force One on the way back to Washington, Mr. Trump said he would now try to broker the more comprehensive peace agreement Mr. Putin has sought.

“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” he wrote on social media on Saturday.

He said that Mr. Zelensky would come to Washington for meetings on Monday to pave the way for a joint meeting with Mr. Putin. “If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin,” Mr. Trump said. “Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”

Mr. Putin’s conditions for such a long-term peace agreement, however, are so expansive that Ukrainian and European leaders are unlikely to go along. Mr. Putin referred to this during his joint appearance with Mr. Trump in Anchorage after their talks, when he spoke about addressing the “root causes” of the war — his term for years of Russian grievances not just about Ukraine but about the United States, NATO and Europe’s security architecture.

“We are convinced that in order for the Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, all the root causes of the crisis, which have been discussed repeatedly, must be eliminated; all of Russia’s legitimate concerns must be taken into account; and a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole must be restored,” Mr. Putin said in Alaska.

In the past, Mr. Putin has insisted that a comprehensive peace agreement require NATO to pull forces back to its pre-expansion 1997 borders, bar Ukraine from joining the alliance and require Kyiv to not only give up territory in the east but shrink its military. In effect, Mr. Putin aims to reestablish Moscow’s sphere of influence not only in former Soviet territory but to some extent further in Eastern Europe.

President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mr. Zelensky and European leaders rejected similar demands on the eve of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. But Mr. Trump appears willing to engage in such a discussion, and since his Friday meeting with Mr. Putin, he has sought to shift the burden for reaching an agreement to Ukraine and Europe.

Mr. Trump has long expressed admiration for Mr. Putin and sympathy for his positions. At their most memorable meeting, held in Helsinki in 2018, Mr. Trump famously accepted Mr. Putin’s denial that Russia had intervened in the 2016 election, taking the former K.G.B. officer’s word over the conclusions of American intelligence agencies.

Much like then, the president’s chummy gathering in Alaska on Friday with Mr. Putin, who is now under U.S. sanctions and faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes, has generated ferocious blowback. Some critics compared it to the 1938 conference in Munich, when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Britain surrendered part of Czechoslovakia to Germany’s Adolf Hitler as part of a policy of appeasement.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, once considered the Trump of London, called the Alaska summit meeting “just about the most vomit-inducing episode in all the tawdry history of international diplomacy.”

But Mr. Zelensky and European leaders sought to make the best of the situation. Some were heartened by Mr. Trump’s comments on the way to Alaska suggesting a willingness to have the United States join Europe in offering some sort of security assurance to Ukraine short of NATO membership. He broached that again in his call with them following the meeting.

“We support President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the U.S.A. and Russia,” Mr. Zelensky said on Saturday. “Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain praised the American president. “President Trump’s efforts have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” he said in a statement. “His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended.”

What remains unknown is whether Mr. Trump secured any unannounced concessions from Mr. Putin behind the scenes that would ease the way to a peace agreement in the days to come. Mr. Trump talked about “agreement” on a number of unspecified points, and Mr. Putin referred cryptically to an “understanding” between the two of them.

At the moment, however, it does not look like Mr. Putin has made any move toward compromise, even as Mr. Trump has now given up on his bid for an immediate cease-fire. Before the Alaska summit, Russian forces were pounding Ukraine as part of their relentless yearslong assault. And for now, at least, they will continue.

Aug. 16, 2025, 1:05 p.m. ET4 hours ago

Ashley Ahn

Europe moves to back Ukraine after Trump drops cease-fire demand.

Much of Europe moved on Saturday to back Ukraine after President Trump abandoned their joint demand for a cease-fire, but the leaders treaded carefully to not openly contradict Mr. Trump as he aligned himself with Russia’s vision of ending the war.

In a joint statement released after Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met in Alaska, European leaders welcomed Mr. Trump’s efforts to stop the war and his declaration that America would offer future security guarantees after a peace deal.

But it did not echo the position Mr. Trump espoused on Saturday morning that conclusive peace talks were now preferable to an immediate cease-fire that would set the stage for negotiations.

“As long as the killing in Ukraine continues, we stand ready to uphold the pressure on Russia,” the European leaders wrote. “We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy until there is a just and lasting peace.”

The statement was signed by leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, Poland, the European Union and the European Council.

Just days before the summit, Mr. Trump had assured Ukraine and key European allies that he would demand a cease-fire before engaging in serious talks about a more permanent peace deal.

In a complete reversal, Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that, after speaking with Mr. Putin, he believed a peace agreement would be preferable to a cease-fire. He said he had spoken to European leaders by phone and claimed they d his view.

In their own statements, European leaders steered clear of reiterating their cease-fire demands, suggesting an attempt to avoid contradicting Mr. Trump.

Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said in a statement that he welcomed “the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal.” Then, as in the joint statement, he said he was determined to keep increasing economic pressure on Russia until the war ends.

In a similar vein, President Emmanuel Macron of France praised America’s readiness to contribute. But he said it was essential to “maintain pressure on Russia as long as its war of aggression continues” and to remember “Russia’s well-established tendency not to honor its own commitments.”

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister who has an amiable rapport with Mr. Trump, said there was a “glimmer of hope” for efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

In her statement, she said Mr. Trump “took up the Italian idea of security guarantees inspired by Article 5 of NATO.” Under this idea, she said, Ukraine would not become part of NATO, but “a collective security clause” would allow it “to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the U.S., ready to take action if it is attacked again.”

Mr. Zelensky, who will visit the White House on Monday, similarly avoided contradicting the U.S. president’s call for a final peace agreement. But he emphasized the “killings must stop as soon as possible.”

In a subsequent statement posted several hours later, Mr. Zelensky warned that the Kremlin could not be trusted and that Russia could try to launch a new wave of attacks.

“Based on the political and diplomatic situation around Ukraine, and knowing Russia’s treachery, we anticipate that in the coming days the Russian army may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors,” he said.

Kaja Kallas, the E.U.’s top diplomat, echoed Mr. Zelensky’s sentiments. On social media, she argued that Mr. Putin wanted to drag out negotiations while making no commitment to stop the killing.

“The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,” she said.

A unified statement by Nordic and Baltic countries, including NATO’s newest members, Finland and Sweden, was much sharper in tone than the one released earlier by the other European leaders, and a far cry from the warm reception Mr. Putin was given in Alaska by Mr. Trump.

The leaders said they would continue to arm Ukraine and bolster their own defenses in the face of Russian aggression. The statement, by a group of countries either bordering Russia or close enough to feel Moscow’s threat acutely, said there should be no limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, nor should Russia have any say in whether Ukraine joins NATO or the European Union.

“Putin cannot be trusted,” the leaders said, calling for Ukraine to have a seat at the negotiation table.

“Ultimately it is Russia’s responsibility to end its blatant violations of international law,” the statement said. “Russia’s aggression and imperialist ambitions are the root causes of this war.”

Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting.

Aug. 16, 2025, 12:48 p.m. ET4 hours ago

The New York Times

With Putin by his side, Trump repeats his claims of a ‘Russia Hoax.’

With President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia by his side, President Trump on Friday suggested the two men were bonded by a d ordeal, or what Mr. Trump called the “Russia hoax.”

“We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax,” Mr. Trump said during remarks after his meeting in Alaska with Mr. Putin.

Mr. Trump was referring to the investigation during his first term into links between Russia and his presidential campaign in 2016. American intelligence agencies concluded that Mr. Putin had ordered an intelligence operation to benefit Mr. Trump. And Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, determined that Russia had carried out a “sweeping and systematic” attack on the 2016 election.

Mr. Trump has long felt aggrieved by the investigation, and on Friday used his meeting with the Russian leader to draw a link between himself and Mr. Putin.

“I think he’s probably seen things like that during the course of his career. He’s seen — he’s seen it all,” Mr. Trump said. “But we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax.”

He added: “What was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country, in terms of the business, and all of the things that would like to have dealt with. But we’ll have a good chance when this is over.”

Mr. Trump has largely held back from harsh criticism of the Russian president, despite recent complaints about Russian intransigence in ending the war in Ukraine. His affinity for Mr. Putin was on display after Friday’s summit, as the two men put on a show of friendship but left without a breakthrough in peace negotiations.

Ivan Nechepurenko Aug. 16, 2025, 12:00 p.m. ET5 hours ago

Reporting from Moscow

Upon his return to Moscow, Putin convened top Russian officials at the Kremlin to brief them in televised remarks about the meeting in Alaska. He said his conversation with President Trump had been “very frank and informative,” adding that it brought Russia and the United States “closer to the necessary decisions” to end the war in Ukraine. Putin said that he had talked to Trump about the “root causes” of the war — a euphemism for Russia’s historical grievances toward Ukraine that he has used to justify the invasion. Putin said, as he has in the past, that “the elimination of these root causes should be the basis for a settlement.”

Aug. 16, 2025, 10:33 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Constant Méheut

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

Zelensky will meet Trump Monday in Washington to discuss ‘all the details.’

After President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ended inconclusive peace talks in Alaska, Ukraine was left in a position it knows all too well. It was scrambling to piece together what the two leaders had actually discussed, deciphering what they may have agreed on and striving to avoid being sidelined in peace talks.

A call a few hours later from Mr. Trump filled in some of the gaps. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said the phone discussion, which included European leaders, had been “long and substantive” and covered “the main points” of the American leader’s talks with Mr. Putin. Mr. Zelensky added that he would visit Mr. Trump in Washington on Monday “to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”

But even as Mr. Zelensky’s statement suggested a potential path toward a peace deal after months of largely fruitless negotiations, a public statement by Mr. Trump later on Saturday morning raised questions about whether such an opening would be too heavily tilted toward Russia for Ukraine to accept.

Mr. Trump called on social media for a direct peace agreement without securing a cease-fire first, claiming that Mr. Zelensky and European leaders had agreed on the point. His statement was a stark shift from the “principles” agreed upon earlier in the week by Mr. Trump, Mr. Zelensky and his European allies, which called for refusing to discuss peace terms until a cease-fire was in place.

Russia has long pushed for a direct peace deal that would address a broad range of issues and impose onerous demands on Ukraine, including territorial concessions. Avoiding a cease-fire would allow Russia to continue pressing its advantage on the battlefield in the meantime.

An official briefed on the call between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky said the Ukrainian leader’s trip to Washington would aim to seek clarity from Mr. Trump. Kyiv does not understand why the American president suddenly dropped the demand that a cease-fire precede negotiations.

In a statement, Mr. Zelensky seemed to tread carefully, trying not to openly contradict Mr. Trump.

“We need to achieve a real peace that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions,” Mr. Zelensky said. But he added that “the killings must stop as soon as possible, and the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the air, as well as against our port infrastructure,” suggesting that he was still prioritizing a cease-fire.

In statements of their own, European leaders made no mention of having agreed to abandon their demand for a cease-fire. At the same time, the fact that the statements did not include a demand for a cease-fire, as in previous remarks, suggests at the very least an attempt not to antagonize Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump’s move to aim for a direct peace deal could bring to failure a week of frantic diplomacy in which Kyiv, with European support, had lobbied the American administration to insist that a cease-fire should come first and that Ukraine should not be undercut in the negotiations.

Mr. Trump’s social media post caused a feeling of whiplash among some Ukrainians, who quickly reversed their early assessments of the Alaska summit.

Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Ukrainian Parliament, had initially expressed some relief, saying that “the situation could have been worse” if Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin had struck a deal behind Ukraine’s back.

He said that a scenario in which “Trump and Putin started together to pressure Ukraine into surrender” could not have been ruled out given Mr. Trump’s history of deference to Mr. Putin.

But after Mr. Trump’s post on Truth Social, Mr. Merezhko changed his view. “In fact, Putin and Trump are starting to force us into surrender,” he said.

Mr. Trump also proposed security guarantees for Ukraine inspired by the collective defense agreement between NATO member countries, which states that any attack on a member is an attack against all, according to Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister.

Under such guarantees, Ukraine’s NATO allies would be “ready to take action” if Russia attacked again. But Mr. Merezhko and other Ukrainian allies said such a formulation was too vague.

“Which countries will agree to consider an attack against Ukraine as an attack against themselves?” Mr. Merezhko asked. “I’d like to believe that we will find such countries, but I’m not sure.”

Mr. Trump, in an interview with Fox News after the meeting with Mr. Putin, also addressed the idea of territorial swaps, saying they were among the points “that we largely have agreed on.” Mr. Trump had said several times over the past week that territorial concessions would be part of a peace agreement, drawing pushback from Mr. Zelensky.

Mr. Zelensky, however, has not entirely ruled out possible land swaps, telling reporters this week that this is “a very complex issue that cannot be separated from security guarantees for Ukraine.”

Mr. Merezhko, who like many Ukrainian officials was left on tenterhooks by the Alaska meeting, watched the post-meeting news conference live from Kyiv at around 2 a.m. local time.

As both Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin offered only vague statements, Mr. Merezhko said it had become clear that no concrete deal had been reached.

He noted that Mr. Putin had again said that any end to the fighting must address the “root causes” of the war, which is Kremlin parlance for a range of issues that include the existence of Ukraine as a fully independent and sovereign nation aligned with the West.

“I think it’s a failure because Putin was again talking about security concerns and used his usual rhetoric,” Mr. Merezhko said as the news conference came to an end. “I don’t see any changes.”

Vadym Prystaiko, a former foreign affairs minister, said in a phone interview that the summit’s brief duration — it lasted just a few hours and broke up ahead of schedule — indicated limited progress toward peace.

He recalled that during cease-fire negotiations in the first Ukraine-Russia war, which started in 2014, he spent 16 hours in a room with Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko.

The cease-fire that was eventually agreed upon did not last, and fighting soon resumed.

“They didn’t manage to sit enough hours to actually go through all the stuff that is needed to reach a deal,” Mr. Prystaiko said of Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin.

In Kyiv, some emerged Saturday morning from a sleepless night following the news with the sense that the war was likely to continue unabated. After the Alaska summit wrapped up, the Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia had continued its assault on Ukraine, launching 85 drones and one ballistic missile overnight. These figures could not be independently verified.

Tetiana Chamlai, a 66-year-old retiree in Kyiv, said the situation with the war would change only if Ukraine was given more military support, to push Russian forces back enough to force Moscow to the negotiating table. “That’s the only way everything will stop,” she said. “I personally do not see any other way out.”

But Vice President JD Vance made clear this past week that the United States was “done” funding Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion. The Trump administration, however, is fine with Ukraine buying American weapons from U.S. companies, and Mr. Zelensky announced this week that Kyiv had secured $1.5 billion in European funding to purchase American arms.

How long the Ukrainian Army can hold against relentless Russian assaults remains uncertain. Moscow’s forces recently broke through a section of the Ukrainian defenses in the eastern Donbas region, and although their advance has been halted, the swift infiltration has underscored the strain on Ukraine’s stretched lines.

Balazs Jarabik, a former European Union diplomat in Kyiv who now works for R. Politik, a political analysis firm, said that Russia’s upper hand on the battlefield had most likely played a role in Mr. Trump’s agreeing to aim for a peace deal rather than a cease-fire.

“Kyiv and Europe must adapt to a new reality shaped by Washington and Moscow,” he said.

Olha Konovalova contributed reporting.

Aug. 16, 2025, 9:57 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Jeanna Smialek

Kaja Kallas, the E.U.’s top diplomat, said in written comments that “the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,” arguing that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia wanted to drag out negotiations while making no commitment to stop the killing.

She added that “the U.S. holds the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously” — but it’s clear from the rest of her statement that she didn’t think that was happening yet.

Aug. 16, 2025, 9:32 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Vanessa Friedman

In the end there was no deal, but there was a photo op: a dramatic, well-choreographed image of President Trump not just welcoming President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to Alaska on Friday, but rolling out the red carpet, that now-universal symbol of fame, pageantry and pomp.

The two men clasped hands, and then strode to Mr. Trump’s limo, in complementary dark suits — single-breasted, two-button — matching white shirts and coordinating ties (red for Mr. Trump, burgundy for Mr. Putin), giving the impression of kindred spirits: just two statesmen meeting on the semi-neutral ground of an airport tarmac to go talk cease-fire, their respective planes looming in the background.

That’s the picture that was caught by the waiting cameras, and those are the photos that have gone around the world to accompany reports of the nonproductive meeting.

In the absence of an actual resolution to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they have become the takeaway. And that, said both President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, even before the meeting, was Mr. Putin’s goal in the first place.

“He is seeking, excuse me, photos,” Mr. Zelensky said. “He needs a photo from the meeting with President Trump.”

Why? Because whatever happened afterward, a photo could be publicly seen — and read — as an implicit endorsement.

After all, the Russian president has been a virtual pariah in the West since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine; accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Whether or not Mr. Trump was tough with him behind the closed doors of their meeting room — whether or not their talks were, as Mr. Trump later said, “productive” — what has now been preserved for posterity is Mr. Putin’s admission back into the fold.

And of all current world leaders, the only one who understands, and embraces, the power of the image quite as effectively as Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin. Both men have made themselves into caricatures through costume and scenography, the better to capture the popular imagination.

Mr. Trump has done it with his MAGA merch, his red-white-and-blue dressing (the one regularly adopted by members of his cabinet as well as Republicans in Congress), his hair and his showmanship.

Mr. Putin has done it with his orchestrated photo shoots: the ones that capture him braving the snow in Siberia, hugging a polar bear, hunting shirtless. They may look silly (at least from outside) but that doesn’t make them any less effective. Or headline-grabbing.

That Mr. Putin met Mr. Trump in the uniform Mr. Trump embraces made its own kind of statement. The conflict in Ukraine has been in part a battle fought in images for the support of the global imagination; that is why Mr. Zelensky insists on dressing to show solidarity with his fighting forces whenever he speaks to international bodies, be they Congress or the European Union; why his wife posed for the cover of Vogue.

By wearing his suit and tie in Alaska, Mr. Putin cast himself as Mr. Trump’s equal and drew another line between himself and Mr. Zelensky, who famously offended Mr. Trump by wearing his army look to the White House.

Their handshake — which went on for a while and also involved various friendly pats — was a pantomime of acceptance of that idea. And the photo was everyone’s souvenir.

Show more

Aug. 16, 2025, 9:26 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Steven Erlanger

President Trump told European leaders after his meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday in Alaska that he supported a plan to end the war in Ukraine by ceding unconquered territory to the Russian invaders, rather than try for a cease-fire, according to two senior European officials who were briefed on the call.

Mr. Trump will discuss that plan with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Monday at the White House, and there were discussions on Saturday about whether other European officials would join him, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

After his meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump has dropped his demand for an immediate cease-fire and believes a rapid peace treaty can be negotiated, so long as Mr. Zelensky agrees to cede the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops.

Mr. Zelensky and the European leaders have strongly opposed such a concession of unoccupied land, which also contains important defensive lines and is mineral rich. Ukrainian officials have said that a final deal cannot involve Kyiv agreeing to cede any Ukrainian sovereign territory permanently, which would violate the Ukrainian Constitution.

In return, Mr. Putin offered a cease-fire in the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines and a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again, the senior officials said. They pointed out to Mr. Trump that Mr. Putin often broke his written commitments.

It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory, the officials emphasized, adding that international borders must not be changed by force.

Mr. Trump did not mention during the call imposing any further sanctions or economic pressure on Russia, the officials said. But the European leaders emphasized that they would continue sanctions and economic pressure on Russia until the killing stops, one official said.

White House officials did not respond to a request for comment.

On a more positive note, the European officials said, Mr. Trump said that Mr. Putin agreed that Ukraine should have strong security guarantees after a settlement, but not under NATO. American troops might participate, Mr. Trump told the Europeans.

Mr. Putin also asked for guarantees for Russian to become an official language again in Ukraine and security for Russian Orthodox churches, the officials said.

Mr. Trump said he was hopeful on getting a trilateral meeting with Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky, the officials said. But Mr. Putin has so far refused to meet with Mr. Zelensky, considering him an illegitimate president of an artificial country.

Jim Tankersley and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.

Aug. 16, 2025, 7:18 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Constant Méheut

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

It is noteworthy that Kyiv’s European allies, in their various statements after the Alaska meeting, did not mention the need to reach a cease-fire first. It has been one of their key principles.

The approach could be a way to avoid antagonizing President Trump, who said he wanted a direct peace agreement without securing a cease-fire first.

Aug. 16, 2025, 7:01 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Constant Méheut

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a statement about the negotiations, seemed to tread carefully so as not to openly contradict Trump’s call for a direct peace deal over a cease-fire.

“We need to achieve a real peace that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions,” he said. But he added that “the killings must stop as soon as possible, and the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the air, as well as against our port infrastructure,” suggesting that he still prioritizes a cease-fire.

Aug. 16, 2025, 6:52 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Chris Cameron and Maggie Haberman

After his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday, President Trump sat down with the Fox News host Sean Hannity to record an interview in which he offered few details about what the two leaders had said about the war in Ukraine, but talked up their personal connection.

“I think the meeting was a 10,” Mr. Trump said after Mr. Hannity asked how he would rate his talks with the Russian president. “In the sense we got along great, and it’s good when two big powers get along, especially when they’re nuclear powers. We’re No. 1 and they’re No. 2 in the world.”

Without sharing any specific information from the meeting in Alaska, Mr. Trump put the onus for securing peace on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Now it is really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” he said during the interview, which was broadcast later on Fox News. “I would also say the European nations have to get involved a little bit.”

In the interview, Mr. Trump repeatedly praised Mr. Putin, and brought up compliments he received from the Russian leader during the summit.

“I always had a great relationship with President Putin,” Mr. Trump said. “And we would have done great things together.”

He claimed that Mr. Putin had even supported his claim that the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Mr. Trump lost to Joseph R. Biden Jr., was rigged.

“He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” Mr. Trump said, adding that Mr. Putin told him that by-mail voting does not exist anywhere else in the world. Whether Mr. Putin actually said that or not, several countries have by-mail voting. And Mr. Trump’s own attorney general in 2020 said his assertions of widespread fraud couldn’t be proven.

During the interview, Mr. Trump mused about a three-way summit between himself, Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin but said explicitly, “I didn’t ask about it.” Twenty minutes after saying that, Mr. Trump said he had in fact discussed that with Mr. Putin.

“They both want me there,” Mr. Trump said. “And I will be there.”

Mr. Zelensky said on Saturday that he would travel to Washington on Monday to discuss the war with Mr. Trump.

Earlier on Friday, the Ukrainian leader had criticized Russia’s latest attacks and cast doubt on Mr. Putin’s commitment to ending the war. But Mr. Trump told Mr. Hannity that he thinks the Russian leader wants to “solve the problem.”

He did not acknowledge that Mr. Putin had started the war.

Aug. 16, 2025, 6:45 a.m. ETAug. 16, 2025

Constant Méheut

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said in a statement that “President Trump today took up the Italian idea of security guarantees inspired by Article 5 of NATO.” Under this idea, Ukraine would not become part of NATO, but “a collective security clause” would allow it “to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the U.S., ready to take action if it is attacked again,” Meloni said.

The idea could be appealing to Ukraine, which has long sought strong security guarantees to deter Russia from attacking again. But the devil is in the details. Several Ukrainian lawmakers said Meloni’s talk of “taking action” was too vague.

Aug. 16, 2025, 6:09 a.m. ET Aug. 16, 2025

Jim Tankersley

Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said in a statement that he welcomed “the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal.” Then he said, as in the joint statement, that he was determined to keep increasing economic pressure on Russia until the war ends.

ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE – FROM REUTERS

TRUMP TELLS ZELENSKIY THAT PUTIN WANTS MORE OF UKRAINE, URGES KYIV MAKE A DEAL

By Steve Holland, Andrew Osborn and Tom Balmforth August 16, 2025 5:18 PM EDT

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW/KYIV, Aug 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big power, and they're not", after a summit where Vladimir Putin was reported to have demanded more Ukrainian land.

After the two leaders met in Alaska on Friday, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Putin had offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv ceded all of Donetsk, the industrial region that is one of Moscow's main targets, a source familiar with the matter said.

Zelenskiy rejected the demand, the source said. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.

Trump also said he agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without the prior ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies had demanded. That was a change from his position before the summit, when he said would not be happy unless a ceasefire was agreed on.

"It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up," Trump posted on Truth Social.

Zelenskiy said Russia's unwillingness to pause the fighting would complicate efforts to forge a lasting peace. "Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war," he said on X.

Nevertheless, Zelenskiy said he would meet Trump in Washington on Monday.

That will evoke memories of a meeting in the White House Oval Office in February, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance gave Zelenskiy a brutal public dressing-down. Trump said a three-way meeting with Putin and Zelenskiy could follow.

Kyiv's European allies welcomed Trump's efforts but vowed to back Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been gradually advancing for months. The war - the deadliest in Europe for 80 years - has killed or wounded well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts.

RUSSIA LIKELY TO WELCOME TRUMP'S COMMENTS

Trump's various comments on the three-hour meeting with Putin mostly aligned with the public positions of Moscow, which says a full settlement will be complex because positions are "diametrically opposed".

Putin signalled no movement in Russia's long-held demands, which also include a veto on Kyiv's desired membership in the NATO alliance. He made no mention in public of meeting Zelenskiy. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said a three-way summit had not been discussed.

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump signalled that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had "largely agreed".

"I think we're pretty close to a deal," he said, adding: "Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they'll say 'no'."

Asked what he would advise Zelenskiy to do, Trump said: "Gotta make a deal."

"Look, Russia is a very big power, and they're not," he added.

Item 1 of 10 U.S. President Donald Trump looks on next to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.,

NEED FOR SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE

Zelenskiy has consistently said he cannot concede territory without changes to Ukraine's constitution, and Kyiv sees Donetsk's "fortress cities" such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk as a bulwark against further Russian advances.

Zelenskiy has also insisted on security guarantees, to deter Russia from invading again. He said he and Trump had discussed "positive signals" on the U.S. taking part, and that Ukraine needed a lasting peace, not "just another pause" between Russian invasions.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed what he described as Trump's openness to providing security guarantees to Ukraine under a peace deal. He said security guarantees were "essential to any just and lasting peace."

Putin, who has opposed involving foreign ground forces, said he agreed with Trump that Ukraine's security must be "ensured".

For Putin, just sitting down with Trump represented a victory. He had been ostracised by Western leaders since the start of the war, and just a week earlier had faced a threat of new sanctions from Trump.

'1-0 FOR PUTIN'

Trump spoke to European leaders after returning to Washington. Several stressed the need to keep pressure on Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said an end to the war was closer than ever, thanks to Trump, but said he would impose more sanctions on Russia if the war continues.

European leaders said in a statement that Ukraine must have "ironclad" security guarantees and no limits should be placed on its armed forces or right to seek NATO membership, as Russia has sought.

Some European politicians and commentators were scathing about the summit.

"Putin got his red carpet treatment with Trump, while Trump got nothing," Wolfgang Ischinger, former German ambassador to Washington, posted on X.

Both Russia and Ukraine carried out overnight air attacks, a daily occurrence, while fighting raged on the front.

Trump told Fox he would postpone imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, but he might have to "think about it" in two or three weeks.

He ended his remarks after the summit by telling Putin: "We'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon."

"Next time in Moscow," a smiling Putin responded in English.

Additional reporting by Yulia Dysa, Kanishka Singh, Trevor Hunnicutt, Jeff Mason, Lidia Kelly, Jasper Ward, Costas Pitas, Ismail Shakil, Bhargav Acharya, Alan Charlish, Yuliia Dysa, Pavel Polityuk, Gwladys Fouche, Dave Graham, Paul Sandle, Joshua McElwee, Andreas Rinke, Felix Light and Moscow bureau; Writing by Andy Sullivan, Kevin Liffey, Mark Trevelyan, Joseph Ax and James Oliphant; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Gareth Jones and Cynthia Osterman

Zelenskyy Says He'll Visit White House After Trum

ATTACHMENT FORTY TWO – FROM FRANCE 24

UKRAINE'S ZELENSKY TO MEET TRUMP ON MONDAY AFTER ALASKA SUMMIT FAILS TO SECURE CEASEFIRE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Monday after a Russia-US summit ended without an agreement to stop the fighting in Ukraine. If the meeting goes well, Trump said he would then push for a three-way meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the US to try to seal a "peace agreement".

Issued on: 16/08/2025

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will head to Washington on Monday to discuss "ending the killing and the war" with US President Donald Trump, he announced Saturday, a few hours after a US-Russia summit in Alaska ended without an agreement to stop the fighting in Ukraine.

Trump confirmed the White House meeting and said that “if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin”.

In a reversal only few hours after meeting his Russian counterpart, Trump said an overall peace agreement, and not a ceasefire, was the best way to end the war. That statement echoed Putin’s view that Russia is not interested in a temporary truce, and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes Moscow’s interests into account.

Red carpet welcome but no Ukraine deal: key takeaways from the Trump-Putin summit

Trump and Ukraine’s European allies had been calling for a ceasefire ahead of any negotiations.

Zelensky, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he held a “long and substantive” conversation with Trump early Saturday. He thanked him for an invitation to meet in person in Washington on Monday and said they would “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war”.

Zelensky to meet Trump after US-Russia summit: What to expect?

It will be Zelensky’s first visit to the US since Trump berated him publicly for being “disrespectful” during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28.

Red carpet welcome for Putin

Trump rolled out the red carpet on Friday for Putin, who was in the US for the first time in a decade and since the start of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But he gave little concrete detail afterward of what was discussed. On Saturday, he posted on social media that it “went very well”.

Trump had warned ahead of the summit of “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin doesn’t agree to end the war.

Zelensky reiterated the importance of involving European leaders, who also were not at the summit.

“It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America,” he said. “We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security.”

The Ukrainian land occupied by Russia at the heart of the Trump-Putin summit

He didn’t elaborate, but Zelensky previously has said that European partners put on hold a proposal to establish a foreign troop presence in Ukraine to deter future Russian aggression because it lacked an American backstop.

Zelensky said he spoke to Trump one-on-one and then in a call with other European leaders. In total, the conversations lasted over 90 minutes.

'No deal until there's a deal'

Trump said in Alaska that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal”, after Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress”.

During an interview with Fox News Channel before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus going forward might be on Zelensky “to get it done”, but said there would also be some involvement from European nations.

In a statement after speaking to Trump, major European leaders said they were ready to work with Trump and Zelensky toward “a trilateral summit with European support”.

The statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the European Union's two top officials said that “Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees” and welcomed US readiness to provide them.

“It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory,” they said. “International borders must not be changed by force.” They did not mention a ceasefire, which they had hoped for ahead of the summit.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon”, noting that Moscow's forces launched new attacks on Ukraine even as the delegations met.

“Putin continues to drag out negotiations and hopes he gets away with it. He left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing,” she said.

'Mission accomplished'

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the summit confirmed that “while the US and its allies are looking for ways to peace, Putin is still only interested in making the greatest possible territorial gains and restoring the Soviet empire”.

Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting along a 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their gains, capturing the most territory since the opening stages of the war.

“Vladimir Putin came to the Alaska summit with the principal goal of stalling any pressure on Russia to end the war,” said Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. “He will consider the summit outcome as mission accomplished.”

Zelensky voiced support for Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting with the US and Russia. He said that “key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this”.

But Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian state television Saturday that a potential meeting of Trump, Putin and Zelensky has not been raised in US-Russia discussions. “The topic has not been touched upon yet,” he said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

End to Putin's isolation in the West

Zelensky wrote on X that he told Trump that "sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war“.

Russian officials and media struck a largely positive tone, with some describing Friday’s meeting as a symbolic end to Putin’s isolation in the West.

Former president Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, praised the summit as a breakthrough in restoring high-level dialogue between Moscow and Washington, describing the talks as “calm, without ultimatums and threats”.

Russian attacks on Ukraine continued overnight, using one ballistic missile and 85 Shahed drones, 61 of which were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said. Front-line areas of Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Chernihiv were attacked.

Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences shot down 29 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Sea of Azov overnight.

ATTACHMENT FORTY THREE – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES

TRUMP SAYS PUTIN AVOIDED ‘SEVERE CONSEQUENCES’ FOR NOW

By Kerry Picket - The Washington Times - Saturday, August 16, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin was cooperative enough in looking to end the Ukraine war at the summit on Friday to forestall “severe” sanctions, said President Trump.

Mr. Trump entered the summit in Alaska threatening to bring down the economic hammer on Russia — what he termed “severe consequences” — if Mr. Putin wasn’t serious about working toward a peace deal.

“Well, because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Mr. Trump said on Fox News’ “Hannity” after the sitdown with the Russian president. “I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”

He said the meeting “went very well.”

Mr. Trump didn’t give details about what progress was made during his three-hour discussion with Mr. Putin. But he said there was an opportunity to advance the process with three-way peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mr. Putin and himself.

Mr. Trump said Mr. Putin wanted the three-way summit.

Mr. Trump had a range of options open to him if he was not satisfied with what he heard from Mr. Putin in Alaska, including more economic sanctions on Russia and secondary sanctions on its largest oil and gas customers: China and India.

‘We didn’t get there’: Trump says more work to do for Ukraine peace deal after summit with Putin

Putin to test Trump’s dealmaking prowess at Alaska summit

Trump threatens ‘very serious consequences’ if Putin doesn’t move toward peace at Alaska summit

Cutting off that lifeline would be devastating to Russia’s already struggling economy.

At a joint press conference immediately following the summit, Mr. Trump said he and Mr. Putin didn’t reach a concrete deal.

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he said. “We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

Mr. Trump said that both sides were close on the “most significant” difference. He did not say what those differences were or how large the gulf remains.

The Russian leader offered a more optimistic view of the meeting. He said Russia sees that the U.S. and Mr. Trump “personally” want to help facilitate the “resolution of the Ukrainian conflict.”

“As I’ve said, the situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security. Moreover, we’ve always considered the Ukrainian nation, and I’ve said it multiple times, a brotherly nation,” Mr. Putin said. “However strange it may sound in these conditions, we have the same roots, and everything that’s happening is a tragedy for us and a terrible wound.”

The war has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides since Mr. Putin, seeking to reestablish Russia’s dominance over its neighbor, launched an invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

ATTACHMENT FORTY FOUR – FROM CNN

PUTIN’S WINS LEAVE TRUMP WITH HARD CHOICES

Analysis by Stephen Collinson

Updated 1 hr 53 min ago

Russian President Vladimir Putin got everything he could have hoped for in Alaska. President Donald Trump got very little — judging by his own pre-summit metrics.

The question now is whether Trump secured any moderate gains or planted seeds for Ukraine’s future security if there’s an eventual peace deal with Russia that were not immediately obvious after Friday’s summit.

And he’s left with some searing strategic questions.

Despite Trump’s claim to have made “a lot of progress” and that the summit was a “10 out of 10,” all signs point to a huge win for the Russian autocrat.

Trump’s lavish stage production of Putin’s arrival Friday, with near-simultaneous exits from presidential jets and red-carpet strolls, provided some image rehabilitation for a leader who is a pariah in the rest of the West and who is accused of war crimes in Ukraine.

And by the end of their meeting, Trump had offered a massive concession to his visitor by adopting the Russian position that peace moves should concentrate on a final peace deal — which will likely take months or years to negotiate — rather than a ceasefire to halt the Russian offensive now. As CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh pointed out, that just gives Putin more time to grind down Ukraine.

Most importantly, Trump has, at least for now, backed away from threats to impose tough new sanctions on Russia and expand secondary sanctions on the nations that buy its oil and therefore bankroll its war. He’d threatened such measures by a deadline that expired last week out of frustration with Putin’s intransigence and a growing belief the Russian leader was “tapping” him along.

This leverage may have brought Putin to Alaska. But Trump seems to have relaxed it for little in return. “Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News after the summit.

Trump briefed European leaders after the summit, telling them that Putin called on Ukraine to yield the roughly a third or so of the Donbas, encompassing the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, that Russia does not currently control. In return, he’d offer to freeze the front lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, CNN’s Kevin Liptak reported, citing European officials. This would force Ukraine into an agonizing dilemma. Some analysts fear such a deal would allow Moscow’s forces a platform to launch a future attack.

European leaders also said Trump voiced openness to providing US security guarantees for Ukraine once the war ends. This could be significant because the president has yet to commit to US support for any Western-led peace mission in the country.
But he didn’t specify what kind of backing he’s willing to provide.

Dueling shows of force

Friday’s meeting began with a B-2 stealth bomber and F-22 fighters roaring overhead in a dramatic moment of US superpower signaling.

But Putin one-upped that symbolism by greeting Trump with the words “Good afternoon, dear neighbor,” as he leveraged the summit’s location in Alaska to imply that the two countries had important and immediate mutual interests that should not be disrupted by a distant war in Europe.

For Ukrainians and their European allies — who were shut out of the meeting and whom Trump briefed afterward — there was at least a moment of relief that Trump didn’t sell Kyiv out. The fact that a US-Russia land swap plan didn’t emerge from Alaska is a win for Europe’s emergency pre-summit diplomacy.

Still, Trump hinted that he will pile pressure on Ukraine’s leader when they meet at the White House on Monday. It’s “now up to President Zelensky to get it done,” Trump told Fox News in the friendly post-summit interview, after refusing to answer questions with Putin in what had been billed as a joint press conference.

Trump’s options moving forward

Before the summit, Trump obliterated careful efforts by his staff to lower expectations when he told Fox News, “I won’t be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire.”

The failure to get there is important.

Russia is happy to commit to a detailed peace process with interminable negotiations that would allow it to continue fighting — including in its increasingly successful summer offensive — while it talks. But Ukrainians are desperate for relief from years of Russian drone and missile attacks on civilians as a generation bleeds out on World War I-style battlefields. Peace talks without a ceasefire will leave it open to Russian or US pressure.

Trump’s zeal to work for peace in Ukraine is commendable, even if his repeated public requests for a Nobel Peace Prize raise questions about his ultimate motives. And one upside of the summit is that the US and Russia — the countries with the biggest nuclear arsenals — are talking again.

But the underlying premise of Trump’s peacemaking is that the force of his personality and his supposedly unique status as the world’s greatest dealmaker can end wars. That myth is looking very ragged after his long flight home from Alaska.

And by falling short of his own expectations in the Alaska summit, Trump left himself with some tough calculations about what to do next.

► Does he revert to his previous attempts to pressure Ukraine in search of an imposed peace that would validate Putin’s illegal invasion and legitimize the idea that states can rewrite international borders, thereby reversing a foundation of the post-World War II-era?

► Or as the dust settles, and he seeks to repair damage to his prestige, does he revert to US pressure and sanctions to try to reset Russian calculations? He at least left open the possibility of sticks rather than carrots in his Fox News interview, saying: “I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”

► Alternatively, Trump could commit to the Russian vision of talks on a final peace agreement. History shows that this would be neither quick nor honored by the Russians over the long term. He’s hoping for a three-way summit between Putin, Zelensky and himself. That would satisfy his craving for spectacle and big made-for-TV events. But after Friday’s evidence that Russia doesn’t want to end the war, it’s hard to see how it would create breakthroughs.

► Another possibility is that Trump simply gets discouraged or bored with the details and drudgery of a long-term peace process that lacks big, quick wins he can celebrate with his supporters.

“A large part of (Trump) is all about style. There’s not a lot of real enjoyment of getting into the substance of things,” Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy who is now affiliated with the Center for New American Security, said before the summit. “He likes the meringue on top. And I think that’s how you can be manipulated.”

Trump’s style-before-substance strategy clearly backfired in Alaska. Putin appeared far more prepared as Trump winged it. In retrospect, it’s hard to see what the Russian president offered to US envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin that convinced the administration that the Alaska talks were a good idea.

And Russia is clearly playing on Trump’s desire for photo-op moments in the expectation that it can keep him engaged while offering few other concessions.

Trump’s Nobel campaign suffered a setback

Trump may remain the best hope for peace in Ukraine. He can speak directly to Putin, unlike Ukraine or its European allies. Ultimately, US power will be needed to guarantee Ukrainian security, since Europeans lack the capacity to do it alone. And the US retains the capability to hurt Russia and Putin with direct and secondary sanctions.

But Trump has to want to do it. And for now he seems back under Putin’s spell.

The Russian leader’s transparent manipulation of the US president and Trump’s credulity will worry Ukraine. On Fox News, Trump said Putin praised his second term, saying the US was “as hot as a pistol” and he had previously thought the US was “dead.”

Putin also publicly reinforced Trump’s talking point that the invasion three years ago would “never have happened” if he had been president. “I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so. I can confirm that,” said Putin.

Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he was “so happy” to hear validation from Putin and that the Russian leader had reinforced another one of his false claims, telling him that “you can’t have a great democracy with mail-in voting.” That a US president would take such testimony at face value from a totalitarian strongman is mind-boggling — even more so in the light of US intelligence agency assessments that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win.

Ultimately, events in Alaska drove a hole through a White House claim in a recent statement that Trump is “the President of Peace.” Trump has touted interventions that cooled hostilities in standoffs between India and Pakistan; Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo; Thailand and Cambodia; and Armenia and Azerbaijan to argue he’s forging peace around the globe at an extraordinary clip.

“I seem to have an ability to end them,” Trump said on Fox News of these conflicts.

He does deserve credit for effectively using US influence in these efforts, including with the unique cudgel of US trade benefits. He has saved lives, even if the deals are often less comprehensive than meets the eye.

But his failure so far to end the Ukraine war that he pledged would be so easy to fix — along with US complicity in the humanitarian disaster in Gaza — means a legacy as a peacemaker and the Nobel Prize that he craves remain out of reach.

Once, he predicted he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hours. Despite his bluster, a comment on Fox News shows that after Alaska, he has a better understanding of how hard it will be.

“I thought this would be the easiest of them all and it was the most difficult

ATTACHMENT FORTY FIVE – FROM NBC

ZELENSKYY SAYS HE'LL VISIT WHITE HOUSE AFTER TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT

By NBC News Updated Aug. 16, 2025, 4:10 PM EDT

What to know today

· ZELENSKYY VISIT: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday to discuss ending the war. Zelenskyy has called for a "lasting" peace.

· 'NO DEAL': President Donald Trump returned to Washington early today after failing to secure an agreement on Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin at yesterday's summit in Alaska.

· 'PEACE AGREEMENT' TO COME?: Trump said early today that he and Putin decided to work toward a "Peace Agreement" to finally end the Russia-Ukraine War, and not just a ceasefire.

· ANOTHER MEETING?: Trump said in an interview with Fox News before departing Anchorage that a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy will be arranged by the two countries, and that he'll attend as well. No details on timing or location were provided.

1h ago / 4:10 PM EDT

West Virginia governor deploys hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington

Alexandra Marquez

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Saturday that he is deploying members of the West Virginia National Guard to Washington, D.C., in support of the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up a military presence in the nation’s capital.

Morrisey’s office said that the National Guard mobilization will include 300-400 troops, plus “mission-essential equipment” and “specialized training.”

“West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital,” Morrisey, a Republican, said in a statement. “The men and women of our National Guard represent the best of our state, and this mission reflects our d commitment to a strong and secure America.”

The statement also said Morrisey’s decision to deploy his state’s National Guard came after a request from the Trump administration and that the troops would be operating under the command of West Virginia’s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Jim Seward.

2h ago / 3:03 PM EDT

Sens. Graham, Blumenthal float bill that would designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism over missing children

Kristen Welker and Alexandra Marquez

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are floating the possibility of introducing a bill in the Senate that, if passed, could designate Russia and Belarus as state sponsors of terrorism over the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, a source familiar with the bill tells NBC News.

The bill cites media reports and estimates from the Ukrainian government that show that Russia and Belarus have taken or displaced tens of thousands of Ukrainian children since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

"The Russian Federation has kidnapped, deported, or displaced Ukrainian children as young as a few months to 17-year-olds, according to reliable reports. President Putin’s regime seeks the ‘'Russification’' of Ukrainian children through kidnapping, deportation, or displacement to destroy their Ukrainian identity," a draft of the bill states. "The Russian puppet state, the Republic of Belarus, has directly supported the kidnapping of Ukrainian children and supported their relocation."

If the bill is introduced and passes, it would give Russia 60 days to prove that the missing children "have been reunited with their families or guardians in a secure environment; and the process of full reintegration of such children into Ukrainian society is underway." Otherwise, the bill directs the secretary of state to designate Russia and Belarus as state sponsors of terrorism.

4h ago / 1:44 PM EDT

Trump engages with Zelenskyy, European leaders on potential U.S.-backed, NATO-like security guarantees for Ukraine

By Vaughn Hillyard and Kristen Welker

According to two senior administration officials and three sources familiar with the discussions, Trump directly engaged with Zelenskyy and European leaders by phone early Saturday morning about the U.S. being party to a potential NATO-like security guarantee for Ukraine as part of a deal struck with Russia. 

“European and American security guarantees were discussed,” one source familiar with the discussions said. “U.S. troops on the ground was not discussed or entertained by [Trump].”

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy told a group of journalists that the U.S. had not yet provided security guarantees.

“The trilateral meeting, after the bilateral one, would involve the United States, Ukraine and Russia. For me, the presence of Europe in one form or another is very important, because ultimately, so far, no one but Europe has provided us with security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said at the time. “Even in financial terms — the financing of our army’s needs, which is itself a security guarantee.”

4h ago / 1:03 PM EDT

Trump hand-delivered letter to Putin from Melania Trump

Monica Alba and Kristen Welker

Trump hand-delivered a personal letter from first lady Melania Trump to Putin on Friday that raised concerns about abducted children from the war in Ukraine, according to two White House officials and a senior administration official. 

Reuters was first to report the letter. 

6h ago / 11:42 AM EDT

Putin says Alaska summit was 'frank' and 'meaningful'

By Alexandra Marquez and Jackson Peck

In remarks to senior political officials in Russia today, Putin offered his thoughts on the Alaska summit, telling officials, "There was an opportunity to calmly and in detail once again state our position."

"Of course, we respect the position of the American administration, which sees the need for a speedy end to hostilities. Well, we would also like this and would like to move on to resolving all issues by peaceful means," he added. "The conversation was very frank, meaningful, and, in my opinion, this brings us closer to the necessary decisions."

8h ago / 9:52 AM EDT

Pro-Trump group sends another fundraising email off of Putin summit

By Lindsey Pipia and Alexandra Marquez

A pro-Trump group today sent another fundraising email to supporters that mentioned the president's meeting with Putin in Alaska.

"I met with Putin in Alaska yesterday! After my meeting with him, I need you to answer just one question… Do you still stand with Donald Trump?" the email reads.

This comes after the group sent an email seeking donations on Friday, ahead of the Alaska summit.

The email read, "I’m meeting with Putin in Alaska! It’s a little chilly. THIS MEETING IS VERY HIGH STAKES for the world. The Democrats would love nothing more than for ME TO FAIL. No one in the world knows how to make deals like me!"

8h ago / 9:48 AM EDT

European leaders praise Trump, reiterate support for Ukraine

By Freddie Clayton

European leaders have praised Trump following the Alaska summit with Putin, while at the same time reiterating their firm support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it was essential to “continue supporting Ukraine and to maintain pressure on Russia,” and called for “unwavering security guarantees.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz each welcomed Trump’s efforts to bring the conflict to an end. Meloni emphasized that only Ukraine “will be able to negotiate on the conditions and its territories.”

The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, described Trump’s determination to pursue a peace deal as “vital,” but warned that “the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon.”

8h ago / 9:27 AM EDT

How Trump’s move away from calls for a Ukraine ceasefire shifts him closer to Putin

By Freddie Clayton

President Donald Trump has promised a “Peace Agreement” to end the war in Ukraine following his summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, dropping his demand for a ceasefire and sparking fears he is moving closer to Putin’s position.

Trump had phone calls overnight with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — who travels to Washington for talks on Monday — and European leaders.

But the shift in stance has sparked fears that Trump has adopted Putin’s position, as European leaders reiterated that borders cannot change through force and analysts warned of potentially disastrous consequences.

8h ago / 9:05 AM EDT

War 'closer than ever' to end, says British PM Starmer

By Freddie Clayton

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says President Donald Trump has "brought us closer than ever before" to ending the war in Ukraine.

"While progress has been made, the next step must be further talks involving President Zelenskyy," he said in a statement. "The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without him."

Starmer added that he welcomed the "openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal."

9h ago / 8:45 AM EDT

Lawmakers divided over Trump-Putin summit

By Freddie Clayton

U.S. lawmakers are divided across the aisle over the outcome of Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, which failed to produce a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said on X that the meeting was a "step in the right direction," while Sen. John Cornyn R-Texas said he was "cautiously optimistic," and that Ukraine "must be part of any negotiated settlement."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted on X that Trump was "moving us towards PEACE."

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote that Trump had "rolled out the red carpet" for an "authoritarian thug," saying the President handed Putin "legitimacy, a global stage, zero accountability, and got nothing in return."

His concerns were echoed by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who said Trump had treated "a war criminal like royalty."