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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed on Tuesday that a trilateral meeting between the presidents of the United States, Russia, and Ukraine – Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelensky, respectively – might happen sometime in the future. Speaking at a press conference, Leavitt explained that the upcoming meeting in Alaska would be between Trump and Putin only as it was the president of Russia who invited his US counterpart to an in-person encounter through Washington's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. She underscored that Trump's goal is to "walk away with a better understanding" of how...

Russian President Vladimir Putin shared the information on his upcoming meeting with his United States counterpart Donald Trump in a telephone call with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, the Kremlin announced on Tuesday. According to the Kremlin's statement, Putin and Kim discussed the bilateral relations between their countries and their comprehensive agreements. Putin also thanked Kim for North Korea's help in what was described as the liberation of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian military. More to come...

Russian presidential advisor Dmitri Suslov revealed that Russia and the US could reach a bilateral agreement, excluding Ukraine and Europe. -snip- “The agreement is between us and the United States, excluding Ukraine and Europe,” he noted. From Suslov’s perspective, the plan could include the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Donbas. The Russian army should withdraw from the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv regions, while the front line should remain unchanged in the other areas. Another essential element of the potential agreement, listed by Suslov, is Kiev’s commitment not to join the North Atlantic Alliance. The Russian advisor specified that the final...

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian commented on Tuesday on the upcoming meeting between United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, stating that China is "glad to see" that the US and Russia are keeping in contact and improving their relations. Lin reiterated China's support for a peaceful settlement to the war in Ukraine. "We hope all parties concerned and stakeholders will take part in the negotiation process in due course and reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement acceptable to parties concerned at an early date," he said, without commenting on the absence of Ukrainian...

President Trump on Monday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the leader’s resistance to cede territory to Russia, saying he disagrees “very, very severely” with Zelensky. “I get along with Zelensky, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done, very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to Russia’s more than three-year war in Ukraine. In an attempt to broker an end to the conflict, Trump announced Friday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. Trump has said the meeting...

US President Donald Trump has said he will try to get some territory back for Ukraine during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. "Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he told a news conference. Trump said the talks in Alaska would be a "feel-out meeting" aimed at urging Putin to end the war, and that there would be "some swapping, changes in land". It is not the first time he has used the phrase "land-swapping", though it is unclear...

U.S. President Donald Trump is joining European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an emergency virtual summit on Wednesday organized by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. -snip- The virtual summit will focus on pressure options against Russia, questions about Ukrainian territories seized by Russia, security guarantees for Kyiv and the sequencing of potential peace talks, a German government spokesperson told POLITICO. Merz and other European leaders demand that Putin first agrees to a ceasefire before any peace talks or land swaps between Moscow and Kyiv can take place. They have also made clear that any potential land swaps must be...

One of President Trump’s core objectives heading into negotiations with Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin will be to prevent a third invasion of Ukraine, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I am here to tell you that President Trump will end this war in a way to prevent a third invasion and not to entice China to take Taiwan,” Graham (R-SC), who went golfing with Trump on Saturday, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We’re not out to humiliate Putin, we’re out to get a deal to make sure there’s no third invasion.” -snip- “Militarily, we need to keep Ukraine strong, keep flowing...

Israel's military said it killed Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al Sharif in a strike on Gaza City on Sunday, accusing him of heading a Hamas cell. "Anas Al Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops," the military said in a statement.

The path to ending the Ukraine conflict should be based on the existing battle lines, US Vice President J.D. Vance has said. He described it as a realistic if imperfect foundation for a negotiated peace. Speaking to Fox News, Vance credited President Donald Trump with securing a breakthrough that could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky to the table. "If you take where the current line of contact between Russia and Ukraine is, we're going to try to find some negotiated settlement that the Ukrainians and the Russians can live with... where the killing stops," Vance said,...

United States Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that the US is working on setting up a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, he told Fox News that it would not be "productive" to schedule the meeting before Putin meets with US President Donald Trump on August 15. Vance said he spoke to the Ukrainian government earlier today but that Trump will have to "force President Putin and President Zelensky to sit down, to figure out their differences."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Saturday for about 40 minutes, the Brazilian presidential palace said, adding that Putin shared information about his discussions with the United States and "recent peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine." -snip- Lula has been in a public spat with Trump since the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on the imports of Brazilian goods, which Trump linked to an alleged "witch hunt" against his ally and Brazil's former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. U.S. imports of some Brazilian products, such as orange juice and aircraft, received a lower...

We welcome President Trump’s work to stop the killing in Ukraine, end the Russian Federation’s war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine. We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed. We stand ready to support this work diplomatically as well as by upholding our substantive military and financial support to Ukraine, including through the work of the Coalition of the Willing, and by upholding and imposing restrictive measures against the Russian Federation. We share the...

President Vladimir Putin has presented US President Donald Trump's special envoy with an award to pass on to a senior CIA official whose son was killed fighting with Russia in Ukraine. Putin gave the Order of Lenin to Steve Witkoff during his trip to Moscow this week to discuss a plan to end the Ukraine war, sources familiar with the matter told the BBC's US partner CBS. Michael Gloss, 21, who was killed in Ukraine last year, was the son of Juliane Gallina, who is the CIA's deputy director for digital innovation. Reports of the award emerged as it was...

The Kremlin confirmed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was expected to meet with President Trump in the coming days, saying that the meeting was being planned for a location that would be named later. The Russian statement on Thursday came hours after Trump said there was a “good chance” he would meet with Putin. The idea was raised by Russia during a meeting between special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian leader on Wednesday. Witkoff relayed the idea to Trump. During the meeting with Witkoff, Putin provided “concrete examples” of Russia’s conditions for agreeing to peace, according to Secretary of...

US Senator Lindsey Graham has applauded President Donald Trump’s move to slap a 50% tariff on India over its purchase of Russian oil, describing it as a key step towards ending the war in Ukraine. Posting on social media on Thursday, the Republican senator called the decision a “defining moment” in the conflict, hoping that it strikes at the financial lifeline fuelling Russia’s war efforts. -snip- Graham stressed that President Trump and his team’s push to end the war was showing “real dividends”. Graham also expressed confidence in Trump’s ability to help end the war “justly” and prevent future conflict....

The US has a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end its war in Ukraine after President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday. "For the first time perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war," Rubio said in an interview with Fox Business Network's Kudlow, adding that the key elements of any agreement would involve territory. He added that he doesn't know if...

A bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could happen as soon as next week, according to a White House official. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff returned from Moscow on Wednesday and relayed to President Trump that Putin would like to meet with him, the official said. In response, Trump indicated he is open to that if Putin also meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the official added. Witkoff met with Putin for several hours on Wednesday ahead of the Friday deadline imposed by Trump for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or...

US Trump talking to Ukraine's Zelenskyy hours after Putin-Witkoff meeting Both Axios and Reuters are reporting that US president Donald Trump is now speaking with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his special envoy Steve Witkoff had made "great progress" in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington continued its preparations to impose secondary sanctions on Friday. Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said he had briefed some European allies about Witkoff's meeting with Putin, which was focused on ending the 3-1/2-year war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come," Trump added, without providing further...