Overview

• The Trump-Putin summit will take place at Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Alaska on August 15 without President Zelensky’s participation.
• The White House describes the meeting as an exploratory exercise to assess Putin’s seriousness on ceasefire proposals and warns Moscow it will face serious consequences if hostilities persist.
• European leaders and President Zelensky held a videoconference with President Trump to insist that any peace agreement involving Ukrainian territory requires Kyiv’s direct involvement.
• Russia’s Foreign Ministry reiterated its unchanged peace conditions demanding Ukrainian withdrawal from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson and a renunciation of NATO membership.
• Ukrainian and Western reports document renewed Russian advances around Donetsk and Pokrovsk that bolster Moscow’s leverage ahead of the bilateral talks.