Today, there are interesting updates from the Pokrovsk direction, Donetsk Oblast.

Here, the Russian command is increasing the use of suicide squads to try to infiltrate Pokrovsk and reach its outskirts. With the Ukrainian defense on high alert, 80% of the Russians are destroyed even before reaching the town, with deceived migrants and forcibly mobilized Ukrainian separatists being thrown into the meat grinder as cannon fodder and acceptable casualties.

Russian forces recently attempted one of their most ambitious infiltration missions yet to penetrate Pokrovsk from the south. Using Pishchane as a forward base, the Russian command formed three tactical groups of 50 men each, tasked with sabotage inside the city. Their goal was to sow panic behind the frontline and force Ukrainian units to abandon positions, as has happened in other settlements along the front.

The infiltration route took 14 days in total: four to reach Pishchane’s industrial zone used as a launch point, and another ten to creep towards the main streets in southern Pokrovsk. Moving roughly 600 meters per day to avoid detection, they relied on drone drops for food, water, and communication updates. 

Despite careful coordination, camouflage ponchos, and preloaded route trackers, Ukrainian drones intercepted and eliminated most of the saboteurs, as of the original 150 infiltrators, around 120 were killed before even reaching their objectives as confirmed by geolocated footage. 

The remainder were hunted down inside the city, with Ukrainian units releasing more footage of how some of the Russians surrendered, while others were eliminated in close combat.

The cost to Russia was staggering, as the operation incurred roughly 80% casualties just to reach Pokrovsk, not counting those later captured or killed after arrival. While a handful of infiltrators ambushed Ukrainian units, the mission failed to achieve its operational aim. 

The Ukrainian Defense Forces not only retained control but also captured dozens of enemy troops. Fighters of Ukraine’s 425th Skala Separate Assault Regiment took 32 prisoners over a week of clearing operations alone. Video evidence from the town shows Russian infiltrators being cleared from buildings and hiding spots, their weapons seized as trophies.

Yet such attritional losses have not dissuaded Russian commanders. On the eastern flank of Pokrovsk, where fighting is intensifying, Moscow is preparing more expendable suicide squads. An entire brigade here is being staffed with deceived migrants from Central Asia and Donetsk People’s Republic volunteers, most of whom are forcibly mobilized men from Russian-controlled Donetsk. 

These units, poorly trained and often unwilling, are tasked with advancing toward Pokrovsk’s eastern outskirts to overwhelm defenses through sheer numbers. Since 2014, many DNR formations have been filled with marginalized individuals and criminals, commanded by Russian officers. 

Now, this volatile mix is being hurled into the bloodiest sector of the front with minimal expectation of survival, with these migrants and separatists being seen as expendable by Russian command.

The brutality extends up the chain of command, as reports from Russian military analysts indicate that separatist officers who question orders or show reluctance to sacrifice their men in large numbers often simply disappear. 

Two battalion commanders in the so-called DNR’s 5th Brigade went missing in five days after being summoned by superiors. In one case, the wife of a vanished commander was told he had run away, but no further contact has been made. Such disappearances serve as a warning: obedience is enforced through fear, and dissent is erased without a trace.

Overall, despite the chaos these infiltration attempts cause for the defenders, the general picture in Pokrovsk remains in Ukraine’s favor. The destruction of the southern sabotage groups, combined with the capture of surviving infiltrators, shows that the Russian command is gambling everything for even minor symbolic gains in Pokrovsk.

With success rates near zero, and casualty rates between 80 and 100%, these operations are less about achieving breakthroughs and more about demonstrating activity to higher political leadership. Ukrainian forces remain on high alert, aware that similar infiltration patterns are now being tested from the east. 

For now, Pokrovsk holds, but the Russians appear willing to keep feeding cannon fodder into the grinder in a desperate bid to change that, regardless of the human cost.

In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

The first lady’s letter addressed the “plight of children in Ukraine and Russia”

Trump’s problem with Zelensky is personal but, as World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley explains, he may finally understand that Ukraine cannot be handed to Putin

Pages found at Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage before high-stakes meeting between two global leaders

Fighting hard to roll back a dangerous Russian incursion around Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainian army’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade had a little help—from gun-armed ground robots.

“Ground-based robotic assault systems were used to liberate Ukrainian territories,” the brigade reported. “The robots, equipped with machine guns, fired at the enemy concentration, approaching practically at close range.”

It’s not an isolated incident. All along the 1,100-km front of Russia’s 42-month wider war on Ukraine, more Ukrainian units are deploying ground robots to assist, and in some cases replace, increasingly precious human troops. “These robots are entering logistics, evacuations, mine-clearing and even combat roles,” American-Ukrainian war correspondent David Kirichenko explained.

The 93rd Mechanized Brigade is part of a powerful Ukrainian force counterattacking around Pokrovsk a week after Ukrainian observers confirmed a dangerous Russian infiltration in the sector.

Marching right past empty Ukrainian trenches—an alarmingly common problem as the Ukrainian military struggles with serious manpower shortage—Russian infantry from the 51st Combined Arms Army infiltrated 15 km north of the porous front line and then pivoted west toward the village of Dobropillya, which lies 16 north of Pokrovsk and sits astride the T0515 road, one of two main supply routes into Pokrovsk.

The Russian infiltration, involving potentially thousands of troops from multiple battalions, was “aimed at completing the encirclement of the town of Pokrovsk and possibly Dobropillya, in order to compel Ukrainian forces to withdraw,” the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team noted.

It failed. This week, the Ukrainian national guard’s 1st Azov Corps rushed toward Pokrovsk and counterattacked. Army and air-assault brigades joined in as the Azov guardsmen cut across the 15-km-deep Russian salient in at least two places.

Explore further

Ukraine’s Leopard tanks rush to Pokrovsk—100,000 Russians wait to spring the trap

Search and strike

“Our search-and-strike operations have cleared the enemy” from six villages, the 1st Azov Corps announced. The multi-brigade corps, which at full strength can deploy tens of thousands of troops, claimed it killed 271 Russians, wounded 101 and captured 13.

“The enemy has also lost a considerable amount of equipment and weaponry,” the corps added. “This success was made possible through cohesive and well-coordinated action.” The 93rd Mechanized Brigade was part of that coordinated action. It focused its attention on two villages near Dobropillya: Gruzke and Vesele.

The brigade deployed a reconnaissance company, various types of unmanned systems and artillery. A video the unit posted online depicts drone strikes on Russian troops and vehicles—and the gun-armed ground robots rolling down paved roads and into residential yards, blasting left and right with their stabilized guns.

The robots give commanders options they wouldn’t have with human troops. “The vision of front-line commanders is to deploy robots across the front, for these ground robots to take on the greatest risk and most dangerous missions,” Kirichenko wrote.

Ground robots can take the place of human troops, helping mitigate the Ukrainian military’s deepening shortage in certain critical military specialties. US analyst Andrew Perpetua estimated the Ukrainians are short 100,000 trained infantry. It’s that shortage, and the empty trenches that result, that was probably the root cause of the Russians’ initial success marching on Dobropillya.

But that doesn’t mean the unmanned ground vehicle, or UGV, operations don’t require people. They do. “Deploying each UGV mission still needs a large team to manage everything,” Kirichenko explained. But at least that team, lodged in a fighting position potentially kilometers from the fighting, is relatively safe from Russian attack as it controls its ground robots via wireless radio or fiber-optic cable.

The 93rd Mechanized Brigade’s robotic counterattack was a triumph of technology as Ukraine races to preserve a tech edge over its much bigger invader. But it also belies a major problem. Owing to a serious lack of operational reserves, Kyiv had to poach units from potentially vulnerable sectors in order to build up a force powerful enough to defeat the Russian incursion near Pokrovsk.

The 93rd Mechanized Brigade had been holding the line south of Chasiv Yar, 50 km east of Dobropillya. The Russians are steadily advancing through Chasiv Yar as they attempt to squeeze the fortress town of Kostyantynivka.

Explore further

Russian infiltrators near Pokrovsk are about to get the tank treatment

Thanks to your incredible support, we’ve raised 70% of our funding goal to launch a platform connecting Ukraine’s defense tech with the world – David vs. Goliath defense blog. It will support Ukrainian engineers who are creating innovative battlefield solutions and we are inviting you to join us on the journey.

Our platform will showcase the Ukrainian defense tech underdogs who are Ukraine’s hope to win in the war against Russia, giving them the much-needed visibility to connect them with crucial expertise, funding, and international support.

We’re one final push away from making this platform a reality.

Join us in building this platform on Patreon

Details of the Russian president’s demands for Ukrainian territory come ahead of Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with Donald Trump in Washington on Monday

Donald Trump appears to be urging Volodymyr Zelensky to give up land for peace

Russia insists on official status for the Russian language and freedom for its Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The New York Times reports that US President Donald Trump will discuss this Russian ruler Vladimir Putin’s demand with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 18 August at the White House. 

European leaders have also been invited to join, officials said, speaking anonymously to discuss private negotiations.

Putin refuses a trilateral meeting

Despite Donald Trump’s hopes to hold a US–Ukraine–Russia trilateral meeting, Putin continues to refuse the proposition, calling Zelenskyy “the illegitimate president of an artificial country.” During a phone call between Trump, Zelenskyy, and European leaders, another demand to cede Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to Russia and security guarantees for Ukraine were discussed.

As of now, Moscow troops control the big part of these two regions but not all the territory. 

Putin’s conditions for ending the war

According to Trump, Putin reportedly demands that all of Donbas be handed over to Russia. In exchange, he is willing to suspend hostilities in other parts of Ukraine – Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, freezing the current frontline, and to provide written assurances not to attack Ukraine or other European countries. Security guarantees for Ukraine after the war are included, but strictly outside the framework of NATO.

This information confirms that Moscow is not abandoning political-religious control and continues to push its ultimatum demands even during negotiations with the US and Europe.

A war criminal, accused by the International Criminal Court, was treated like a king in Alaska. From the red carpet to the plane’s flyover — everything went perfectly for Russian President Vladimir Putin, writes Ivor Bennett for Sky News.

In recent years, only China and North Korea, Russia’s longtime allies, have similarly welcomed him.

The most urgent issues were ignored

Putin’s primary goal in Anchorage was to ease Donald Trump’s disappointment. A week ago, Moscow faced an ultimatum: a ceasefire or sanctions. Yet neither was mentioned.

Putin again spoke of “eliminating the root causes” of the war, a phrase that offers little hope to Ukraine. It implies that Russia’s red lines remain unchanged: Ukrainian territory, neutrality, and limitations on its armed forces, with Moscow unwilling to relax any of these demands.

Press conference under Kremlin’s control

At the press conference, it became clear who was running the show. Putin spoke first and did not answer a single question — a unique situation for Trump’s media interactions. The absence of a Q&A session was likely a condition set by the Russian side, which Trump unquestioningly respected. It demonstrates how much he values relations with the Kremlin.

“Quest for peace” or a new order?

The summit’s slogan was “quest for peace,” but it appeared that Putin sought a new stage in US-Russia relations, at Ukraine’s expense. Despite Trump’s statements that many points were agreed upon, Russia made no concessions.

This meeting leaves questions unanswered: why were these vague frameworks set, and what are the Kremlin’s fundamental objectives if details are not disclosed?

Disgusting.

That’s the word watching American soldiers drop to their knees, unrolling a red carpet for the man who killed Ukrainian children yesterday and will kill more tomorrow.

While Putin posed for photos in Alaska, Ukrainian parents were pulling their kids from rubble.

While he grinned in Trump’s limousine, Ukrainian mothers were digging graves.

While an Orthodox bishop exchanged gifts with a war criminal, 19,000 stolen Ukrainian children remained in Russian camps.

What really happened Friday: America told the world that genocide pays. War crimes get you red carpet treatment. Russia’s Foreign Minister showed up wearing a USSR sweatshirt. Russian state media served “chicken Kyiv” on Putin’s plane while actual Kyiv burns nightly from Russia’s drones.

The message was clear: We own you now.

The truth Trump abandoned

Putin didn’t just get legitimacy in Alaska; he got proof that the West has abandoned truth itself.

Genocide became “diplomacy.”

War crimes became “peace talks.”

Child killers become “partners.”

Here are the truths they’ve abandoned:

Putin isn’t after land—he’s after eliminating Ukraine itself. But reality doesn’t bend to political convenience. Our right to exist isn’t negotiable.

This is bigger than Ukraine. Russia is fighting against existence itself—the principle that different peoples should exist, should grow, should contribute their own gifts to the world. Every time a people is erased, the world becomes smaller, darker, less human.

While America rolled out the red carpet for our destroyer, Ukraine stood up for the right of all peoples to flourish in this world. Because when the powerful are allowed to erase the weak, you’ve destroyed the only thing standing between civilization and chaos.

Once might makes right, there’s always someone mightier.

But he has it backwards.

Ukraine’s strength doesn’t come from tanks. It comes from standing for truth and justice—the very foundations that once made the West great.

Trump promised to “Make America Great Again.” He could have done exactly that by supporting the nation fighting for the very things that make America great. Instead, he chose a perpetrator of genocide.

The lie is that giving Putin what he wants will make him stop. It won’t.

Putin didn’t stop after Georgia or Crimea, and he won’t stop after Donetsk. Evil doesn’t get satisfied when fed. It gets hungrier.

The choice before us

This is the West’s war being fought with Ukrainian blood. Putin isn’t just trying to erase Ukraine—he’s testing whether democratic civilization will defend itself. Friday gave him his answer.

The West can abandon Ukraine today and face Putin’s tanks in Warsaw tomorrow. America can sell us out now and watch its own children conscripted later.

What must happen now

Friday was America’s test. America failed.

But Ukrainians are still fighting. Still dying for the principles democratic civilization claims to believe in. Still holding the line that Western leaders are too weak to defend.

The West has one chance left:

• Send every weapon Ukraine needs. Now.
• Freeze every Russian asset. Today.
• Cut every pipeline, every bank, every trade deal that feeds Russian aggression.

Ukraine still fights for existence itself. The only question is whether the West will fight for its own.

Thanks to your incredible support, we’ve raised 70% of our funding goal to launch a platform connecting Ukraine’s defense tech with the world – David vs. Goliath defense blog. It will support Ukrainian engineers who are creating innovative battlefield solutions and we are inviting you to join us on the journey.

Our platform will showcase the Ukrainian defense tech underdogs who are Ukraine’s hope to win in the war against Russia, giving them the much-needed visibility to connect them with crucial expertise, funding, and international support.

We’re one final push away from making this platform a reality.

Join us in building this platform on Patreon

A drone, suicide, a lover, crypto, and a note. On the Toretsk front, aerial scouts from the Khyzhak Brigade of the Patrol Police Department have conducted a unique psychological operation. As a result, one Russian assault soldier shot himself, and another surrendered after a note was dropped by a drone: “Want to live — follow the drone.”

Assault and surrender

It all began when two Russian occupiers moved toward Ukrainian positions.

“Our aerial scouts from the bomber group met them from the sky. Accurate drops — one wounded soldier couldn’t endure and shot himself. The other, barely breathing, raised his hands and begged for mercy,” the brigade reports.

“Rugby Player” from Kazan

The wounded soldier turned out to be 43-year-old Andryukha, a former Russian national rugby team player, with a call sign “Rugby Player.”

According to the fighters, he previously ran a cryptocurrency company but went bankrupt and fell into 6 million rubles of debt. His lover and promises of easy service pushed him to the war, but he was thrown into an assault unit.

He survived because he followed the drone

“Now he says he never wanted to kill Ukrainians and is not eager for an exchange, because he knows that if he returns, the Russians will send him to die again,” the brigade concludes.

European leaders issued a pointed statement that reveals deep concerns about being sidelined in Ukraine peace negotiations after the 15 August Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.

The joint declaration from seven EU leaders—released early 16 August morning—welcomed President Trump’s diplomatic efforts while laying down non-negotiable red lines that could complicate any future deal.

According to the European Union statement, leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz insisted that Ukraine must receive “ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The statement reveals European priorities that may not align with whatever Trump and Putin discussed in their three-hour meeting Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

“We are clear that Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We welcome President Trump’s statement that the US is prepared to give security guarantees. The Coalition of the Willing is ready to play an active role.”

European leaders want direct involvement in any future negotiations, declaring they are “ready to work with President Trump and President Zelenskyy towards a trilateral summit with European support.”

The EU statement offers clues about what European leaders fear most. Their insistence that “no limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries” suggests concern that Trump might agree to constraints on Western military aid.

Even more pointed: “Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine’s pathway to EU and NATO,” the leaders declared—a direct pushback against any deal that would limit Ukraine’s Western integration.

The Europeans also rejected territorial concessions, stating bluntly that “it will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.”

Europe ready for continued pressure on Russia

The EU leaders’ statement reads like diplomatic insurance—an attempt to lock in principles before Trump sits down with Zelenskyy for follow-up talks, scheduled on 18 August in Washington.

Their promise of continued pressure reveals the leverage they’re prepared to use:

“As long as the killing in Ukraine continues, we stand ready to uphold the pressure on Russia. We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy.”

The leaders want to ensure “unwavering solidarity” with Ukraine while working toward “a peace that safeguards Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests.”

The next phase will reveal whether Trump’s promised meeting with Zelenskyy can bridge the gap between what Russia might accept and what Europe demands.

The Alaska summit may have been bilateral, but any lasting agreement will need to satisfy a much larger coalition—one that Europe just reminded everyone it intends to lead.

He may have helped to persuade Donald Trump not to abandon Ukraine, but for all his energy devoted to foreign policy, the PM has gained no credit for it at home, writes John Rentoul

Lessons of the past 30 years cannot be ignored. French President Emmanuel Macron calls to taking into account all the lessons of the past three decades, particularly Russia’s history of ignoring its commitments after the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which ended without a peace agreement or sanctions on Moscow.

“The lessons of Russia must not be forgotten”

“It will also be essential to draw all the lessons from the past 30 years, in particular from Russia’s well-established tendency not to honor its own commitments,” Macron claims.

He added that, together with Trump and Zelenskyy, he will act “in a spirit of unity and responsibility,” supporting Ukraine and maintaining pressure on Russia as long as its aggression continues.

Support for Ukraine and steadfast peace guarantees

According to Macron, any long-term peace must be based on unwavering security guarantees and respect for Ukraine’s rights. The French president emphasized the unity of European and Western leaders on this matter.

Willing coalition and concrete progress

Macron also welcomed the US willingness to contribute to strengthening peace.

“We will work on this with them and all our partners within the Coalition of the Willing, with whom we will meet again soon to achieve concrete progress,” the French president adds. 

Ukraine disagrees with US President Donald Trump’s vision of ending the war. Kyiv insists that there must first be a ceasefire, followed by a negotiating process. Otherwise, Russia could use endless strikes to secure the most favorable terms, UNIAN reports. 

Presidential Office adviser Serhii Leshchenko says that negotiations before a ceasefire create major risks of blackmail for Ukraine.

“Our vision is first a ceasefire, and then everything else. Why? Because if we negotiate before a ceasefire, it creates big risks of blackmail for Ukraine. If there is a ceasefire, space for diplomacy opens,” Leshchenko explains.

The adviser claims that a ceasefire is necessary before starting substantive negotiations. Talks cannot be conducted in parallel with ongoing battles at the front.

“Today the fighting is one way, tomorrow another. This can have serious consequences due to very short-term shifts on the battlefield, in one direction or another,” Leshchenko adds.

Trump has claimed his intention to end the war in Ukraine since the first day he took office. He has called Putin six times, and each time his conversations ended with even more bloody Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians. 

• On the night of 12 July, Russia launched massive strikes with Shahed drones and cruise missiles on Lviv, Lutsk, Chernivtsi, as well as Kyiv. In Chernivtsi, two people were killed and several were injured. In Lviv, 12 people were wounded, including an 11-year-old child.
• Russia killed 31 civilians in 27 locations in Kyiv on 31 July, including residential buildings. Over 150 people were injured. The month ended with 286 civilians killed and nearly 1,400 injured across Ukraine, the highest monthly toll since May 2022. 

Moscow prepares a new strike, but Kyiv will respond asymmetrically. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns that in the coming days, Russia may sharply intensify its attacks, trying to create favorable conditions for negotiations. However, Ukraine is ready to counter the aggressor “asymmetrically, if needed.”

Ukrainian military successes in Donbas

According to Zelenskyy, Ukrainian Armed Forces units have been achieving success for the second day in a row on the toughest sections of the front, in the areas of Dobropillia and Pokrovsk.

“The destruction of occupiers who tried to infiltrate deep into our positions continues. Ukraine has received important additions to the exchange fund in the form of captured Russian soldiers,” the president states.

Gratitude to heroes and warning to the enemy

The Ukrainian president also praises the combat performance of the 79th and 82nd Air Assault Brigades, the 1st and 425th Assault Regiments, the 25th Battalion, and other units holding the defense in the Pokrovsk direction.

“We are recording the movement and preparations of Russian troops. Of course, we will respond, asymmetrically if needed,” Zelenskyy adds.

Earlier, we reported that the Trump-Putin meeting ended without signing a treaty or ceasefire agreement. At the same time, no sanctions were imposed on Russia or its main partner, China. The red carpet and warm reception for Putin, who launched Russia’s war that has killed 13,800 civilians, including children, sparked outrage around the world.

Russian Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev declared that 15 August Trump-Putin summit in Alaska “restored a full-fledged mechanism of meetings” between the two countries at the highest level. But did the three-hour encounter actually produce the breakthrough Moscow claims?

The meeting ended without a concrete agreement on Ukraine, with Trump stating “there’s no deal until there’s a deal” during the joint news conference.

Yet according to Medvedev’s Telegram post, Putin “personally and in detail outlined to the US President” Russia’s conditions for ending the war.

Russian officials celebrate end of isolation

Medvedev writes that the meeting proved “negotiations are possible without preconditions and simultaneously with the continuation of the ‘special military operation.'”

He claimed both sides “directly placed responsibility for achieving future results in negotiations on cessation of military actions on Kyiv and Europe.”

After the talks, Trump urged Zelenskyy to “make a deal” with Russia, emphasizing the need for a direct peace agreement rather than a ceasefire, which often fails to hold.

Why frame it this way? Russian media celebrated what they saw as validation after years of isolation claims, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova writing:

“For years they have been talking about the isolation of Russia, and today they saw the red carpet that greeted the Russian president”.

Zakharova separately stated that Russia is “no longer in isolation.”

Trump provides red carpet for war criminal

Trump and Putin met for nearly three hours at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson but emerged without taking questions from reporters after their joint briefing.

Trump said he and Putin “made some headway” and “great progress” but offered no specifics about any agreements reached.

The atmospherics favored Moscow. Putin received a red carpet welcome at the Alaska military base despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) war crimes warrant that restricts the Russian leader’s global movements.

In 2023, the Hague’s court found Putin and Russia’s children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova guilty of illegally transferring Ukrainian children from occupied areas.

The First Lady Melania Trump reportedly addressed this humanitarian crisis of Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces in a letter handed to Putin via Trump.

Russia shows no signs it wants peace

Trump told Fox News there were “one or two pretty significant items” preventing a conclusive peace deal, but declined to specify what they were. He added: “Now it’s really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done.”

The US president also suggested that a future trilateral summit involving himself, Zelenskyy, and Putin could be convened to finalize peace terms, but no specific timeline was given, while Russia denied claims of a planned three-leader meeting.

Meanwhile, Putin showed no signs of backing down from Russia’s core demands, saying any deal needs “to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe and in the world on the whole”.

Russian key demands for Ukraine include:

• Withdrawal from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, including areas not fully under Russian control.
• Abandoning NATO membership aspirations.
• Ending martial law in Ukraine and holding elections.
• International legal recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea (2014).
• Limitations on the size of the Ukrainian armed forces.
• Recognition of Russian as an official language on par with Ukrainian.

What happens next

Both leaders expressed interest in future meetings, with Putin suggesting “Next time in Moscow”. Trump held a phone call with Zelenskyy on the next day and expects the Ukrainian president’s visit to Washington on 18 August.

Zelenskyy stressed that Europe needs to be involved every step of the way to make sure Ukraine gets solid security guarantees.

The meeting marked Putin’s first visit to a Western country since ordering the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and his first time on US military property as Russian president.

Vladimir Putin signed a decree on 15 August that could enable foreign investors, including US oil major Exxon Mobil, to reclaim their shares in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project.

Friday’s announcement serves as a follow-up to Putin’s October 2022 decree that ordered the seizure of the Sakhalin-1 project, Reuters reports.

Exxon previously operated a 30% stake in the project and remains the only non-Russian investor to have exited its position. Other partners—India’s ONGC Videsh and Japan’s SODECO—kept their shares. Only Exxon walked away.

But here’s the catch: Exxon would need to actively work against the very sanctions that pushed it out. The decree requires foreign shareholders to “undertake actions to support the lifting of Western sanctions” if they want back in.

That’s a tall order. Exxon took a $4.6 billion hit to exit Russia after the February 2022 full-scale invasion. Would the company spend resources lobbying against US policy for a project the Kremlin seized?

The mechanics get messier. Foreign investors must also secure contracts for foreign-made equipment and transfer funds to project accounts. Three years after comprehensive sanctions, that equipment pipeline barely exists.

Can Trump deliver? His team has reportedly identified sanctions they could lift quickly with progress on Ukraine. Sakhalin-1 itself hasn’t been directly sanctioned, creating potential wiggle room.

Russia extended the sale deadline for Exxon’s unclaimed stake until 2026 last December. Translation: Moscow still wants that American expertise and technology.

The economics are stark. Russian oil prices have collapsed from $100 to $55 per barrel since the full-scale war began. Budget revenues have plummeted. Russia’s National Welfare Fund could run dry by late 2025, experts estimate.

Oil and gas revenues have been a crucial source of cash for the Kremlin, accounting for a quarter of total federal budget proceeds.

Earlier, Trump also publicly needled Putin about Russia’s economic struggles, saying the Russian leader should focus on rebuilding his country’s finances rather than fighting wars.

The question remains whether any Western company would risk reputational damage to re-enter Russia while the war continues. For now, Putin has opened the door. Whether anyone walks through it depends on factors far beyond oil prices.

First Lady Melania Trump sent a personal letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing the deportations of Ukrainian children during the ongoing war, according to Reuters citing White House officials.

Trump hand-delivered the letter during their 15 August summit in Anchorage, Alaska. The officials wouldn’t reveal details beyond confirming it addressed child abductions, Reuters reports.

Why does this matter? Ukraine has documented over 19,000 children illegally removed from their territories. That’s not a disputed number—it’s Ukraine’s official count as of June.

The International Criminal Court took notice. In 2023, judges issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russia’s children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. The charge: illegally transferring Ukrainian children from occupied areas.

Russia’s position? Moscow says it protects vulnerable children from war zones.

Recovery of deported children is complicated

Some can. The International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children—41 countries plus the Council of Europe—managed to bring back nearly 600 children in 2024 alone.

But the numbers tell a stark story. Nearly 600 returned. Over 19,000 documented as taken but the actual number could be much higher, possibly in the hundreds of thousands.

The deported children include those with and without parents, ranging from infants to 17 years old, many of whom have had their identities changed and been subjected to forced Russification and adoption by Russian families.

Explore further

Russian war crimes: Ukraine has evidence occupiers forcibly deported 15 children from special school to Russia

Trump rates Putin talks 10 out of 10

The Alaska meeting almost didn’t happen as planned. Initial reports suggested a private conversation between the two leaders. Instead, both sides brought backup.

Trump’s team: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Putin’s delegation: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Presidential Assistant Yury Ushakov.

Three hours behind closed doors at Elmendorf-Richardson military base but no ceasefire reached. Trump emerged calling it “constructive” and rating the encounter “10 out of 10.”

Trump outlined potential war resolution terms involving territorial swaps and US security guarantees. But here’s the catch: he placed responsibility for any ceasefire deal squarely on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“I think we’re pretty close to the end,” he said, though he added a crucial caveat: “Ukraine has to agree to this.”

Will additional sanctions follow? Not immediately. Trump indicated he would hold off on the “serious consequences”he previously threatened against Russia.

Explore further

Anchorage braces for Trump–Putin summit today as protests warn of deal over Ukraine