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Trump says a second meeting with Putin, Zelensky, and possibly European leaders could follow the Alaska summit – but cautions there’s only a 25% chance of success for Friday’s talks.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is planning a “second meeting” with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and officials from Europe to follow Friday’s highly anticipated summit with Putin in Alaska.

“The more important meeting will be the second meeting that we’re having,” Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office.

Land or peace? As the US and Russia are rumored to discuss plans to carve up Ukraine in a bid to end Moscow’s invasion, Kyiv Post reached out to locals on the streets of Kyiv to gauge their reaction

Is there a price for peace? And what price are Ukrainians willing to pay?

On Friday, Aug. 15, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska to discuss Ukraine, in particular the prospects for peace.

The SBU said the 21-year-old’s “incriminating testimony” also implicated his commanders in the killing of civilians in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison on Thursday for shooting two civilians at point-blank range with a machine gun near Kupyansk, a city in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

According to a Thursday press release by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), 21-year-old Artem Kulikov was serving time for robbery and theft at Nizhny Novgorod prison in Russia when he was recruited into the 23rd Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 6th Combined Arms Army in August 2024.

As Trump prepares to meet Putin in Alaska, analysts warn: this isn’t diplomacy – it’s a KGB-style power play designed to sideline Ukraine and script a win for Moscow.

A former Lithuanian ambassador cautions that Putin is using charm and misinformation to manipulate the US and get the West to pay for a deal it didn’t create.

WASHINGTON DC – In a move that has sent shockwaves through European capitals, US President Donald Trump is set to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. The summit, pitched by the White House as a critical step toward ending the war in Ukraine, is being viewed with deep suspicion and anxiety across the Atlantic. 

For Europe, the stakes couldn’t be higher: they fear being sidelined in a negotiation that could define the continent’s future.

After a year in corporate lending, PrivatBank has secured its largest deal since its 2016 nationalization – a $113.2 million loan to state-owned energy giant Naftogaz.

After one year in Ukraine’s corporate lending market, state-owned giant PrivatBank has expanded its large corporate loan portfolio from about Hr.2-3 billion to over Hr.10 billion ($48-72 million to $240 million), Chief Corporate and SME Business Officer Ievgen Zaigraiev told Forbes Ukraine.

In June 2024, PrivatBank entered the large corporate lending market, positioning itself as a new rival to Ukraine’s top banks. Already dominant in retail banking, its move intensified competition across the sector. 

The top US diplomat has cautioned that while a breakthrough at the Alaska summit could bring a halt to the fighting, a lasting resolution to the war will require more time and negotiation.

WASHINGTON DC – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes that a lasting peace for Ukraine will take longer than a single summit, as US President Donald Trump prepares for a high-stakes meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to reporters at the State Department Thursday morning, Rubio said that any comprehensive peace deal would need to address crucial and complex issues.

Ukraine is reopening tenders for the Mezhyhirya and Svichanska gas fields, adding a clause that gives US partners priority to buy the oil and gas produced under the joint Reconstruction Fund.

Ukraine’s government will soon announce a renewed competition for investors to develop two oil and gas fields in western Ukraine – Svichanska and Mezhyhirska – under the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Fund for joint natural resource extraction.

According to draft Cabinet of Ministers resolutions obtained by Ekonomichna Pravda, the new tenders will replace earlier announcements from April 8, which have since expired. This marks the second attempt to attract investors to the projects, located in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Chernivtsi regions.

Ukrainian forces are holding the line near Chasiv Yar and repelling intense Russian assaults in the Pokrovsk sector, inflicting heavy casualties despite Kremlin advances in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine’s forces in the Kramatorsk sector are holding Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region despite Russian claims of its capture, repelling 56 attacks in the Pokrovsk sector over the past 24 hours, according to military officials on Thursday.

The Azov Corps reported 151 Russian troops killed over the last two days in that sector.

Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation claimed the Russian leader is planning to lecture his US counterpart in Alaska on history in a bid to justify his invasion of Ukraine.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is likely to lecture US President Donald Trump on the Russian version of Ukrainian history in a bid to justify his invasion, according to Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation on Thursday.

The center, which is a government agency tasked with countering Russian propaganda and disinformation in Ukraine, said the information came from

Pyongyang plans to send 6,000 troops, up to 100 tanks and APCs to Russia, and is already supplying 40% of its artillery ammo and weapons used in the war against Ukraine, Budanov says.

North Korea is preparing to send a new contingent of troops and military equipment to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine, Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) chief Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with The Japan Times.

According to Budanov, in the coming months, Pyongyang plans to deploy around 6,000 military engineering personnel, officially for demining and reconstruction work in Russia’s Kursk region. However, the intelligence chief doubts that will be their sole mission: “Some of them may indeed be involved in demining and building fortifications, but will all of them do that?” he remarked.

Ukraine’s 67th prisoner exchange freed 84 people, including Mariupol defenders and civilians held since 2014, some imprisoned for up to 11 years.

On Thursday, Aug. 14, Ukraine carried out its 67th prisoner exchange, returning 84 citizens from Russian captivity — 33 military personnel and 51 civilians — the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported, acting on the orders of the President of Ukraine.

This exchange was particularly significant, as among those freed were Ukrainians detained by Russian occupation forces even before the full-scale invasion. Some had been serving unlawful prison sentences of 10 to 18 years. The longest-held was a resident of Donetsk region who spent 4,013 days — nearly 11 years — in captivity since 2014.

Trump and Putin meet Aug. 15 in Alaska to discuss Ukraine peace; Russia may push Kyiv to cede Donetsk. Kyiv residents share views on possible concessions.

Ahead of Friday’s Alaska summit with Putin, Trump discussed possible Ukraine peace terms with European leaders, including a front-line ceasefire and security guarantees. Media doubt success.

In the run-up to Friday’s Alaska summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, several European leaders participated in a video conference with the US president, laying out key points for possible peace talks, including a ceasefire based on the current front line and security guarantees for Ukraine. The media assess the chances of success.

US president remains the big uncertainty factor

European leaders on Wednesday renewed calls for “robust and credible” security guarantees for Ukraine, potentially including foreign troop deployments – but only if a ceasefire is reached.

The so-called “Coalition of the Willing” has reiterated its calls for “robust and credible security guarantees” for Kyiv after Wednesday’s talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.

The coalition, led by the UK and France, aims to provide post-war Ukraine with security guarantees through military support, potentially including the deployment of foreign troops.

Moscow said the meeting would take place at 11:30 a.m. at an air base in Anchorage, starting with an in-person meeting between the heads of state before expanding to their delegations.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Friday’s Alaska talks will start at 11:30 a.m. local time in Anchorage, at the Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force Base.

It would be 10:30 p.m. in both Kyiv and Moscow after considering the time difference.

From Moscow’s View: Not to Compromise, But to Gloat

When Vladimir Putin steps onto Alaskan soil to meet Donald Trump, the symbolism will be hard to miss. Alaska once belonged to the Russian Empire, until it was sold to the United States in 1867. In Russia, this is more than a historical footnote — it has become a running nationalist joke. Ever since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Kremlin-friendly commentators have half-seriously suggested that Alaska should be “returned.” The singer Vika Tsyganova even immortalized the fantasy in a patriotic ballad: “From Alaska to the Kremlin — this is my Motherland.”

But in Russia, the anticipation of this meeting is anything but unified. The so-called “turbo-patriots” — the loudest, most militant pro-war bloggers and propagandists — are terrified that peace might break out. For them, peace would mean that the war, and all the deaths and sacrifices it has brought, were for nothing. They want victory at any cost — and Putin himself has fed that fantasy. He’s compared the current conflict to World War I, lamenting how Russia “prematurely” signed a separate peace with Germany instead of pushing on to victory. In other words: no repeat of Brest-Litovsk.

On Thursday, President Zelensky meets UK PM Starmer in London amid Western unity talks on Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Downing Street in London on Thursday, Aug. 14 to meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Sky News reported.

The British side has not yet disclosed details of the meeting’s agenda.

Galvanized by Russia’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine, Warsaw has rapidly accelerated its military modernization efforts.

Poland has signed a €3.25 billion contract with the U.S. government to upgrade its entire fleet of F-16 fighter jets to the Viper (Block 72) standard – the most advanced version of the aircraft.

Galvanized by Russia’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine, Warsaw has rapidly accelerated its military modernization efforts. 

US Treasury puts a brief hold on certain sanctions for summit with Putin in Alaska, tempts Moscow with a share of the rare minerals deal that Trump struck with Ukraine, in order to stop the invasion.

In preparations for Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin’s visit to the US state of Alaska on Friday for a summit with President Donald Trump, aimed at stopping Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the US Treasury Department has briefly relaxed sanctions on Russia in terms of commercial and aviation restrictions.

The US Treasury Secretary also said on Wednesday that Trump will offer Putin an amuse-bouche in the form of a proposal to share in the rare earth minerals deal the US inked with Ukraine.

Local officials blamed falling debris for igniting spilled oil products at the LUKOIL-Volgogradneftepererabotka plant, while Russia claimed to have intercepted 44 Ukrainian UAVs overnight.

A series of drone strikes hit Russia’s Volgograd region early Thursday, Aug. 14, igniting a fire at a major oil refinery.

Volgograd Region Governor Andrey Bocharov said falling drone debris caused oil products to spill and catch fire at the LUKOIL-Volgogradneftepererabotka refinery.

NATO Secretary General welcomed the move, calling it a clear demonstration of Germany’s steadfast support for Ukraine’s defense.

Germany has committed to funding a $500 million military aid package for Ukraine as part of NATO’s new Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative.

The announcement was published on NATO’s official website, as reported by Ukrinform.

The unrest, sparked by a deadly Novi Sad station collapse blamed on corruption, has fueled months of mass rallies demanding early elections - demands President Vucic refuses to meet.

Anti-government protesters and ruling party supporters clashed in northern Serbia on Wednesday evening, after a night of violence that saw masked men hurl missiles and fireworks at campaigners against corruption.

The two groups threw flares and other objects at each other in Novi Sad, prompting riot police to intervene, local media reported.

Trump’s upcoming summit with Putin – without the Ukrainians and Europeans – is both ineffective and unjust. But Europe understands the Russian invasion is an existential threat and is with Ukraine.

Ukrainians are cynical about the Aug. 15 Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska and for good reason.

They are directly involved but excluded, along with their neighbors. Putin has ignored ceasefire demands, but Trump suggested a summit to finesse his embarrassment and, by so doing, has raised Putin’s stature. Worse, there’s loose talk about partitioning Ukraine even though that won’t work, as the 1938 Munich appeasement to Hitler demonstrated. Giving Nazis a sliver of Czechoslovakia to achieve “peace in our time” lasted only six months and ended up in WW2.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian officials reiterated that Russia’s objectives in Ukraine remain unchanged ahead of the Alaska summit on August 15, once again demonstrating that the Kremlin remains uninterested in pursuing serious peace negotiations.
• The Trump administration clarified that the United States will not pursue any agreements with Russia regarding a peace settlement in Ukraine without an immediate ceasefire and without Ukraine’s formal involvement in peace negotiations.
• Trump reiterated US interest in facilitating future Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations and warned that Russia would face “very severe consequences” if Putin fails to engage in serious peace talks with Ukraine after the Alaska summit.
• The Kremlin is using the Alaska summit to portray Russia as a world power equal to the United States and to posture Putin as an equal to US President Donald Trump.
• Russia is reportedly preparing to conduct further offensive operations in priority sectors of the frontline and to resume limited offensives in southern Ukraine, particularly in Kherson Oblast.
• Russia is simultaneously preparing to continue its long-range drone strike campaign against Ukrainian rear areas, which will likely result in further civilian casualties.
• Russian forces have yet to reinforce and consolidate positions east and northeast of Dobropillya, and Russian and Ukrainian sources continued on August 13 to characterize the Russian penetration as consisting of limited, dismounted sabotage and reconnaissance groups.
• ISW continues to assess that Russian forces do not control the territory east and northeast of Dobropillya where Russian forces recently infiltrated. ISW’s Assessed Russian Advances map layer does not differentiate between enduring Russian positions and limited infiltration missions.
• Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups continue attempts to infiltrate Pokrovsk as Russian forces heavily strike the town.
• The Kremlin is likely using the upcoming Zapad-2025 joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises to facilitate its nuclear saber-rattling campaign ahead of the Alaska summit.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in northern Kharkiv Oblast and western Zaporizhia Oblast and near Lyman and Toretsk. Russian forces recently advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Toretsk.

In a surprise move just days before the Trump-Putin summit, the White House swapped out pro-EU PM Tusk for Poland’s new president – a political ally who once opposed Ukraine’s NATO and EU bids.

Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, unexpectedly joined a call with US President Donald Trump and other European leaders on Wednesday in place of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, highlighting his emerging influence with Washington.

Tusk told reporters in Warsaw that the US side informed him “shortly before midnight” on Tuesday that they “would prefer” Nawrocki to represent Poland on the Ukraine-focused call.