Donald Trump<\/a> has said he will meet with Vladimir Putin<\/a> in Alaska on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Russian president is expected to use the summit to set out his demands for a ceasefire deal, which includes Ukraine giving up two eastern regions and its sovereignty of Crimea.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters at the White House<\/a> on Friday, the US president admitted any peace deal may involve \u201csome swapping of territories\u201d.<\/p>\n Reacting to the announcement, Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> said “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier\u201d, and warned that any negotiations must include Kyiv<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to reports, the White House is now considering inviting Mr Zelensky<\/a> to Alaska.<\/p>\n A senior White House official has said that Trump<\/a> \u201cremains open to a trilateral summit with both leaders. Right now, the White House is focusing on planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n A joint statement from European leaders \u2013 representing the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland and the European Commission \u2013 backed a ceasefire but warned that \u201cinternational borders must not be changed by force\u201d. <\/p>\n <\/a>Russian nationalists have long demanded the return of Alaska. Now Trump has invited ICC-indicted Putin to the state<\/p>\n US president Donald Trump is set to meet with Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week, the state that Russia once laid claim to and nationalists want to take back.<\/p>\n Trump announced Friday that a meeting has been set with the Russian leader on 15 August in the Last Frontier state to discuss the war in Ukraine, which the president claimed he would end \u201con Day One.\u201d<\/p>\n Critics pointed out that Russia once laid claim to the state of Alaska at the beginning of the 1770s\u2014where they mercilessly exploited Alaskan natives to hunt fur for the Russians\u2014and nationalists have long wanted to take it back.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump inviting war criminal Putin to America is nauseating enough, but hosting him in Alaska \u2014 while Putin’s pet propagandists routinely demand it back from the US on state TV \u2014 is beyond the pale,\u201d author and commentator Julia Davis wrote on X. \u201cUnless Putin is arrested upon arrival, there’s no excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 08:15<\/p>\n <\/a>How would Trump-Putin talks compare to other historic summits?<\/p>\n Donald Trump has said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Putin is expected to use the summit to set out Russia’s demands for a ceasefire deal.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Mr Trump admitted any peace deal may involve \u201csome swapping of territories\u201d.<\/p>\n Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky hit back, vowing he would not cede land, saying: \u201cUkrainians will not give their land to occupiers.\u201d<\/p>\n However, summit breakthroughs are exceedingly rare, The Independent\u2019s Sean O\u2019Grady explains<\/p>\n Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 08:00<\/p>\n <\/a>Russia says it downed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight as strike kills one in Saratov<\/p>\n Russian air defence units shot down 121 Ukrainian drones overnight, including eight over the Saratov region, the country\u2019s defence ministry said on Sunday.<\/p>\n In Saratov, one person was killed and several others injured after debris from a destroyed drone damaged three residential apartments and an industrial facility, according to regional governor Roman Busargin, who posted on the Telegram messaging app.<\/p>\n One person was hospitalised, and residents were evacuated from the affected buildings.<\/p>\n The type of industrial site hit has not been officially confirmed, but Ukrainian media reported that an oil refinery in the city of Saratov caught fire following the attack.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s SHOT Telegram channel reported around eight explosions over Saratov and nearby Engels, while flights to and from Saratov were temporarily halted for two hours to ensure air safety, the aviation authority Rosaviatsia said. <\/p>\n Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 07:45<\/p>\n <\/a>Vance\u2019s UK talks make \u2018significant progress\u2019 ahead of Trump-Putin summit, says US official<\/p>\n US vice president JD Vance\u2019s meetings with senior Ukrainian, US, and European officials in the UK on Saturday led to \u201csignificant progress\u201d toward President Trump\u2019s goal of ending the war in Ukraine, a US official told Axios.<\/p>\n The talks were held at Chevening House in Kent with foreign secretary David Lammy, Ukrainian officials including Andriy Yermak, and representatives from European allies. The in-person meeting was arranged following a series of conference calls between US, Ukrainian, and European officials in the days leading up to the talks.<\/p>\n The discussions come ahead of the planned summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on 15 August.<\/p>\n According to Axios, some Nato and Ukrainian allies had privately expressed concerns that Trump might accept Putin\u2019s proposals without fully considering its allies’ positions. <\/p>\n Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 07:30<\/p>\n <\/a>Donald Trump must not reward Vladimir Putin\u2019s aggression<\/p>\n Donald Trump understands symbolism and imperial delusions, so Alaska is a fitting location for his meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday. The US president will know that in Mr Putin\u2019s eyes, Alaska ought to be Russian territory, sold in a moment of weakness by Alexander II.<\/p>\n Just as, in Mr Trump\u2019s mind, Canada and Greenland ought to be part of the United States.<\/p>\n The theatre of the summit, then, is all set. But some of the cast will be missing. By agreeing to a meeting of just the two of them, Mr Trump appears to be convening a conspiracy to carve up Ukraine in the absence of its leader, Volodymyr Zelensky.<\/p>\n Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 07:15<\/p>\n <\/a>Reactions in Kyiv to idea of Ukraine ceding territory range from scepticism to quiet resignation<\/p>\n On the streets of Kyiv, reactions to the idea of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia ranged from scepticism to quiet resignation.<\/p>\n “It may not be capitulation, but it would be a loss,” said Ihor Usatenko, a 67-year-old pensioner, who said he would consider ceding territory “on condition for compensation and, possibly, some reparations.”<\/p>\n Anastasia Yemelianova, 31, said she was torn: “Honestly, I have two answers to that question. The first is as a person who loves her country. I don’t want to compromise within myself,” she told the AP. “But seeing all these deaths and knowing that my mother is now living in Nikopol under shelling and my father is fighting, I want all this to end as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n Others, like Svitlana Dobrynska, whose son died fighting, rejected outright concessions but supported halting combat to save lives.<\/p>\n “We don’t have the opportunity to launch an offensive to recapture our territories,” the 57-year-old pensioner said, “But to prevent people from dying, we can simply stop military operations, sign some kind of agreement, but not give up our territories.”<\/p>\n Tara Cobham10 August 2025 07:00<\/p>\n <\/a>Trump to meet Putin in Alaska for Ukraine peace talksTrump to meet Putin in Alaska for Ukraine peace talks<\/p>\n Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 06:45<\/p>\n <\/a>Russian drone strike hits civilian bus near Kherson as Ukraine evacuates residents<\/p>\n A Russian FPV (first-person-view) drone struck a civilian bus in the suburbs of Kherson on Saturday morning, killing two people and injuring 19 others, local authorities have said.<\/p>\n The strike took place around 8am local time. Sixteen people were taken to hospital, with two in serious condition. The victims, aged between 23 and 83, suffered shrapnel and blast injuries.<\/p>\n As police recovered the victims\u2019 bodies from the bus, a second Russian FPV drone hit the area, injuring three officers with concussions, according to Ukraine\u2019s National Police.<\/p>\n The attack comes amid escalating Russian strikes across Kherson Oblast. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said 36 settlements were hit in the past day, leaving one person dead and three injured, including a child.<\/p>\n Ukrainian authorities have been evacuating hundreds of residents from the Korabel district of Kherson city, which has been cut off from the rest of the city after Russian forces heavily damaged the only bridge connecting the area last week.<\/p>\n According to Politico, only 600 of the 1,800 residents remain in the island district, with at least 200 set to be evacuated on Friday. \u201cRussians continue to attack the bridge and the area during evacuation,\u201d said Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, deputy head of the Kherson regional administration. <\/p>\n Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 06:30<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/FILE-PHOTO-FILE-PHOTO-U-S--President-Donald-Trump-and-Russias-President-Vladimir-Putin-talk-during-t.jpeg\")
(Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"Smoke](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Smoke-and-fire-rise-from-an-industrial-facility-in-Saratov-fdmg6r2u.jpeg\")
Smoke and fire rise from an industrial facility, which, according to the governor of the southern Russian region, was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, in Saratov, Russia, in this screengrab obtained from social media video (via REUTERS)<\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/92a2a778323f28110d78d181157483f7Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzU0ODI1NDU5-2.81212599.jpg\")
David Lammy and JD Vance at Chevening, in Kent, where the US Vice-President is visiting the foreign secretary at the start of his UK holiday (PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"File](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/FILE-PHOTO-Ukrainian-servicemen-fire-a-2S7-Pion-self-propelled-gun-at-a-position-on-a-frontline-in-K.jpeg\")
File photo: A Ukrainian servicewoman fires a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun on a frontline in Kherson region (REUTERS)<\/p>\n