Zelensky warns he will not give up land as Trump to meet Putin in Alaska
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Donald Trump has said he will meet with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine.
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.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, the US president admitted any peace deal may involve “some swapping of territories”.
Reacting to the announcement, Volodymyr Zelensky said "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier”, and warned that any negotiations must include Kyiv.
According to reports, the White House is now considering inviting Mr Zelensky to Alaska.
A senior White House official has said that Trump “remains 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 joint statement from European leaders – representing the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland and the European Commission – backed a ceasefire but warned that “international borders must not be changed by force”.
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Key Points
White House 'considering inviting Zelensky to Alaska' - reportsEuropean leaders: Path to peace cannot be decided without UkraineZelensky warns Ukrainians will not give their land to occupiersTrump admits ceasefire deal will involve ‘swapping of territories’Trump to meet Putin in Alaska on Friday
3 minutes ago
Zelensky warns he will not give up land as Trump to meet Putin in Alaska
Zelensky warns he will not give up land as Trump to meet Putin in Alaska
Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 06:15
18 minutes ago
Trump's efforts to pressure Russia to end war delivered no progress so far
Before Donald Trump announced his summit with Vladimir Putin, his efforts to pressure Russia into stopping the fighting had delivered no progress.
The Kremlin's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities.
Exasperated that Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Trump had moved up an ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement.
The deadline was Friday. But the White House did not answer questions that evening about possible sanctions after Trump announced the meeting with Putin.
Tara Cobham10 August 2025 06:00
33 minutes ago
Drone attacks cause major flight delays at Russia’s Sochi airport
Dozens of flights were delayed at Sochi Airport on Saturday following reported drone attacks in southern Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, according to a report by The Kyiv Independent.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences shot down 10 drones over the region. In response, airspace over Sochi was closed twice on Friday, with restrictions continuing into the next day.
By Saturday morning, 57 flights had been delayed and one cancelled, according to independent outlet Meduza, citing data from a flight-tracking app.
The disruption extended beyond Sochi, affecting airports in Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Novokuznetsk, and Norilsk. Around 1,000 passengers were left waiting, according to Russia’s West Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office.
Ukraine has not commented on the reported drone strikes, but Russia regularly grounds flights or shuts airspace in response to Ukrainian drone activity. Last month, at least one Russian airport faced temporary closure nearly every day.
Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 05:45
48 minutes ago
Vance and Lammy meet with senior Ukrainian officials in Kent
Senior Ukrainian officials met with foreign secretary David Lammy and the US vice president JD Vance on Saturday for security talks at Chevening House in Kent, ahead of Donald Trump’s upcoming summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Andriy Yermak, head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, and Ukraine’s national security and defence council secretary Rustem Umerov attended the meeting, along with European national security advisers.
Lammy posted photos from the gathering, describing it as part of efforts to support a just peace for Ukraine.
The hours-long talks focused on Trump’s proposed peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. A US official said the meeting produced “significant progress” towards Trump’s goal of ending the war, though no concrete agreements were announced.
Foreign secretary David Lammy welcomes US vice president JD Vance to Chevening House in Kent, during his visit to the UK (PA)
In his evening address, Zelensky called the discussions “constructive”.
“All our messages were conveyed. Our arguments are being heard. The risks are being taken into account. The path to peace for Ukraine must be determined together – and only together – with Ukraine. This is fundamental.”
Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 05:30
1 hour ago
Macron says Ukraine’s future cannot be decided ‘without the Ukrainians’
French president Emmanuel Macron has said Ukraine’s future must not be decided without the involvement of Ukrainians and Europeans, ahead of Donald Trump’s planned summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Any deal between Trump and Putin is expected to involve potential land concessions, which Volodymyr Zelensky has firmly rejected.
In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Macron wrote: “Ukraine’s future cannot be decided without the Ukrainians, who have been fighting for their freedom and security for over three years now.”
He added that Europe must also be part of any peace solution, as its own security is at stake.
“We remain determined to support Ukraine, working in a spirit of unity and building on the work undertaken within the framework of the Coalition of the Willing,” he said.
Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 05:15
1 hour ago
Analysis: A Trump-Putin summit will be as useful to Ukraine and democracy as Agent Orange is for gardening
Along-overdue summit between the presidents of the United States and the Russian Federation to discuss peace in Ukraine, where nuclear war has been threatened, must be seen as a historic moment for optimism.
Except that from London to Langley, Berlin, Canberra and Tokyo, intelligence chiefs will be on tenterhooks wondering whether this is another occasion resembling the meeting between an agent and his handler.
There’s no evidence that Donald Trump works for Vladimir Putin. But there is ample evidence that the US president favours Putin’s agenda. And that he has done all he can to hobble Ukraine while it attempts to defend itself against a Russian invasion of Europe’s eastern flank.
The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley reports:
Trump-Putin summit will be as useful to Ukraine as Agent Orange is for gardening
This toxic relationship is weird and dangerous for the West. World affairs editor Sam Kiley explains why
Tara Cobham10 August 2025 05:00
1 hour ago
Zelensky rejects Putin’s land-for-ceasefire proposal, warns of repeat invasion
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has firmly rejected Vladimir Putin’s proposal for Ukraine to cede territory in exchange for a ceasefire, warning it would only invite future Russian aggression.
In his evening address on Saturday, Zelensky said Russia must face consequences for its invasion, pointing to the West’s failure to punish Moscow after the 2014 annexation of Crimea as a mistake that led to wider war.“
Putin was allowed to take Crimea, and this led to the occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk... Now Putin wants to be forgiven for seizing even more,” Zelensky said.
“We will not allow this second Russian attempt to divide Ukraine. Where there is a second, there will be a third.”
His statement comes ahead of a planned 15 August summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Putin, where the two are expected to discuss a possible ceasefire plan, which would reportedly see Russia halt hostilities in return for Ukraine handing over its eastern territories.
Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 04:47
1 hour ago
European leaders back peace push but stress Ukraine’s security must come first
European leaders have welcomed Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine but insist any peace deal must protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and European security.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, and the European Commission said they supported diplomatic efforts but warned that “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine”.
They also emphasised that international borders “must not be changed by force” and said the “current line of contact should be the starting point for any negotiations”.
The statement followed a meeting at Chevening House in the UK, where US vice president JD Vance met foreign secretary David Lammy, Ukrainian and European officials to discuss Trump’s planned 15 August summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Ukraine’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak, who attended the Chevening talks, said a ceasefire was essential but stressed: “The front line is not a border.”
European officials reportedly presented a counterproposal, with one negotiator telling the Wall Street Journal: “You can’t start a process by ceding territory in the middle of fighting.”
Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 04:30
2 hours ago
Trump's plan to host Putin on US soil breaks with expectations
Donald Trump’s announcement that he planned to host one of America's adversaries on US soil broke with expectations that they would meet in a third country.
The gesture gives Vladimir Putin validation after the US and its allies had long sought to make him a pariah over his war against Ukraine.
Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the AP that the "symbology" of holding the summit in Alaska was clear, and that the location "naturally favors Russia".
"It's easy to imagine Putin making the point: ‘We once had this territory and we gave it to you, therefore Ukraine had this territory and now should give it to us’," he said, referring to the 1867 transaction known as the Alaska Purchase when Russia sold Alaska to the US for $7.2 million.
Donald Trump’s gesture gives Vladimir Putin validation (Reuters)
Tara Cobham10 August 2025 04:15
2 hours ago
Trump ‘open’ to Alaska summit with Putin and Zelensky, White House says
US president Donald Trump is ‘open’ to holding a three-way summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Alaska, a White House official has said.
For now, a bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin is set for 15 August in Alaska, following a request from the Kremlin.
Asked if an official invite had been extended to Zelensky, a senior White House official said: “The President remains open to a trilateral summit with both leaders. Right now, the White House is focusing on planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin.”
Trump has claimed the parties are close to a deal that could end the three-and-a-half-year conflict, suggesting it may involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both”.
No details have been confirmed, but any such arrangement could require Ukraine to give up significant territory, an outcome strongly opposed by Zelensky and European leaders, who say it would only embolden Russia.
Shahana Yasmin10 August 2025 04:00
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