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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, will attend President Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, according to two senior Defense Department officials. Hegseth isn't joining with Trump on Air Force One, instead flying separately, the officials said. Caine has already arrived in Alaska, a third DOD official said.

The White House revealed on Friday the team that will accompany US President Donald Trump to the Alaska summit on Friday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Luntick, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe are among the top US officials who will join Trump for his highly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his delegation. Additionally, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, among others, are expected to travel with the US president...

United States President Donald Trump mentioned on Thursday that he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "will make peace." "We will see if they can get along. And if they can, it will be great ... I thought the easiest [war to solve] would be this one, [but] it's actually the most difficult," he commented during a press conference. He reiterated that the potential second meeting will outweigh the importance of the one taking place tomorrow in Alaska. Trump revealed that this meeting could potentially involve both Putin and Zelensky, himself, as well as potentially some...

United States President Donald Trump commented on Thursday that he is unsure whether he will hold a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Speaking on Fox News radio, Trump explained that everything depends on how their meeting goes. The US head of state detailed that if discussions go well, the two will appear together and address the press. On the other hand, should talks not go well, the joint press conference will not happen. Trump further added that if negotiations go badly, he would hold a solo press briefing and head right back to...

The Kremlin has confirmed the names of those who will attend the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska this Friday, August 15, among other details about the schedule. -snip- Alongside Putin will be Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrey Belousov, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who heads Russia's sovereign wealth fund. -snip- The summit, to be held at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage and centred on agreeing a settlement on Ukraine, will begin at 11:30 a.m. local time, the Kremlin said, according to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised President Donald Trump for his efforts to broker an end to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, as preparations continued for the Friday summit between the American and Russian leaders in Alaska. The Trump administration "is making quite an energetic and sincere effort, in my opinion, to stop hostilities, to stop the crisis and to reach an agreement that is of interest to all those involved in this conflict," Putin said during a meeting of his top officials to prepare for the Alaska summit, according to a readout published by the Kremlin. The process could...

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump's upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is a "precursor" for future meetings, as Trump is willing to continue the dialogue. He added that the European Union should "put up or shut up" on Russia, accusing it of buying Russian oil refined in India and stressing that the US and the EU must coordinate on secondary sanctions on Russia.

The summit between Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will begin at 11:30 local time (Alaska Daylight Time), and will kick off with a one-on-one conversation in which only interpreters will be present, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced on Thursday in a briefing. After the initial meeting, the parties will continue negotiations in the format of a working breakfast. "It is expected that everything will begin tomorrow, August 15, at approximately 11:30 local time (22:30 Moscow time/ 21:30 CET/ 15:30 ET) with a conversation between Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Donald Trump," the diplomat said. "This conversation...

Russia appears to be preparing to test its new nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered cruise missile, according to two U.S. researchers and a Western security source, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin readies for talks on Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday. Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and Decker Eveleth of the CNA research and analysis organization, based in Virginia, reached their assessments separately by studying imagery taken in recent weeks until Tuesday by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm. They agreed the photos showed extensive activity at the Pankovo test site on the Barents Sea...

President Trump agreed with European leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to red lines for the coming talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and said he hoped to follow up quickly with a trilateral summit with the two warring leaders. -snip- “President Trump was very clear that the American desire was to obtain a cease-fire at this meeting in Alaska,” Macron told reporters after the meeting. -snip- While Trump’s decision last week to meet Putin on American soil worried Europeans, trans-Atlantic relations have since warmed. In a flurry of calls and meetings, senior U.S. officials—including Trump, Vance and...

United States President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that "there is a very good chance" that he'll have a second meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after their summit in Alaska this Friday, adding that it "would be more productive than the first." "If the first one goes okay, we'll have a quick second one. I would like to do it almost immediately, and we'll have a quick second meeting with President Putin and [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky and myself if they'd like to have me there," Trump said. Speaking about the upcoming encounter with the Russian leader, Trump...

President Donald Trump threatened "very severe consequences" for Russia if President Vladimir Putin doesn’t agree to end the war in Ukraine after their meeting in Alaska on Friday. -snip- Trump later appeared to cast doubt on whether he could convince Putin to stop bombing Ukrainian civilians. "I'll tell you what. I've had that conversation with him. I've had a lot of good conversations with him then I go home and I see that a rocket hit a nursing home or a rocket hit an apartment building, and people are laying dead in the streets," Trump said. "So, I guess the...

United States President Donald Trump stressed on Wednesday that if Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to stop the war in Ukraine during their meeting in Alaska, his country will face "severe consequences." Speaking to reporters, the US head of state did not specify what types of consequences Moscow would suffer. However, he insisted that he would be putting pressure on the country. The comments come after Trump's phone conversations with the European leaders. According to media reports, the US president told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that territorial swaps might be necessary.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Tuesday that both the United States and Russia reaffirmed their "commitment to the success" of the upcoming Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the ministry issued a statement, saying that the officials also talked about "certain aspects of preparations for the upcoming meeting" between the leaders, set to take place in Alaska on August 15.

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...

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...

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...