Overview

• The bilateral summit between President Trump and President Putin is scheduled for August 15 in Alaska, and U.S. officials say President Zelensky’s participation is possible though no invitation has been finalized.
• Reports from multiple outlets indicate the Kremlin has conditioned a ceasefire on Kyiv’s surrender of control over Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea.
• European leaders issued a joint declaration affirming that meaningful peace talks require Ukraine at the table and rejecting any forcible border changes.
• President Zelensky publicly rejected territorial swaps, declaring that concessions would not halt Russian aggression and that Ukraine will not gift its land.
• EU foreign ministers convened an urgent video conference to coordinate a unified Western response and demand a pre-negotiation ceasefire even as fighting and Russian drone strikes persist.