The meeting in Alaska has not brought peace to Ukraine. Following talks with Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump stated that no ceasefire or peace deal has been reached so far. While the leaders discussed “many points,” no key agreements were made, Reuters reports. 

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not invited to the meeting, and his European allies feared Trump would force Kyiv into territorial concessions, recognizing Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine.

Trump: “There’s no deal until there is one”

At a joint press conference in Anchorage, Trump called the meeting with Putin “very productive” and stressed that “there were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say.”

“A couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there but we’ve made some headway. So there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said. 

The US president briefed other leaders, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO representatives, on the outcome of the talks, according to CBS News.

Trump also said he would hold off on imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, even after no definite progress was reached. 

“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now. I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now,” he claimed. 

Putin demands Ukraine’s capitulation

Earlier, the Russian president said he was ready to “end the war,” but only on the conditions he put forward back in June 2024. These include:

• The withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts
• Abandoning NATO’s membership aspirations, a neutral status
• Recognition of Crimea
• Lifting of sanctions against Russia.

Such demands in effect amount to Ukraine’s capitulation.

Ukraine: ceasefire and return of prisoners

Kyiv, not invited to the talks in Alaska, has also outlined its clear position: before any discussion on territories, there must be a ceasefire, security guarantees, compensation for rebuilding the country, and the return of children and prisoners.

None of these points were agreed upon during the Trump-Putin meeting.

At the same time, Russia continued its drone and missile strikes on Ukraine. During the night of 16 August, Kyiv forces downed 61 Russian drones. They targeted 24 objects in four Ukrainian regions. 

The Russian president has been accused of unlawfully deporting children and transferring them from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia

Exclusive

Can anybody tell how many new T-90M tanks Russia is building—300 a year or just 10? NATO’s asking for a friend. The analysis community’s best guesses range from “almost none” to “a lot,” which isn’t much help for military planning.

From myth to genocide: how the Kremlin’s story about Ukraine fuels war. Why are Russians hell-bent on hating Ukrainians? Why do they hate them enough to leave their families and try to kill them in some faraway steppe, inspired by drivel from their TVs? This hatred was cultivated over decades — but what dirty purpose does it serve in the Russian soul? A new book explores precisely that.

Anchorage braces for Trump–Putin summit today as protests warn of deal over Ukraine. Ukraine’s leader and European allies fear Washington could cut a deal over their heads.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption cops just beat the president—but the fight’s not over. Ukraine’s corruption investigators are back to charging million-dollar schemes after surviving a July attempt to strip their independence. But they’re working under a government that still has the administrative tools to derail sensitive cases and has demonstrated its willingness to use them.

The peace that kills: How the Alaska summit could end Ukraine without ending the war. In Washington, they call it peace negotiations. In Moscow, they call it Ukraine’s legal execution.

Russian infiltrators near Pokrovsk are about to get the tank treatment. Ukraine is rushing heavy armor toward Pokrovsk. The tanks could help roll back a dangerous Russian incursion.

Russian Easter vodka binges delayed Ukraine’s covert bomber-killing drone strike, SBU reveals. The Security Service of Ukraine originally planned the operation for early May, but Russian drivers’ Easter drinking binges forced a delay for a month

Military

Ukraine crashes Russian horns of war near Pokrovsk, eliminating 271 occupiers over few days. Smoke and dust rise over the Donetsk horizon as Ukrainian brigades hold the line, crushing Russian attempts to seize Dobropillia and blunting their push toward Pokrovsk.

Russian Grad and tank wiped out in Donetsk by Ukraine’s Phoenix drone unit drones in one mission (video). Video from Ukrainian border guards shows FPV drones eliminating the weapons and infantry.

Putin calls North Korean troops “heroic” – Russia rewards Pyongyang for cannon fodder

. Western intelligence estimates 4,000 of the original 11,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured in Kursk Oblast.

Ukrainian city smaller than Prague faces Russian forces larger than some NATO states’ entire troops. Drawn from Sumy front’s fields, entire Russian brigades roll east, turning a Donetsk town into the focal point of the war in Ukraine

Ukraine’s GenStaff says its deep strikes have erased 4% of Russia’s GDP this year—42% of attacks targeted oil refineries (infographics). Kyiv’s military reveals a breakdown of long-range attacks that have crippled refineries, storage depots, and ports.

Russia abandons foreign fighters in Ukrainian captivity – lured in by promises of riches. Moscow’s foreign recruitment spans six continents while captured fighters remain excluded from all prisoner exchanges.

Russia says 13 drones destroyed — but Syzran refinery burns and videos show fire raging at military-linked fuel plant. Authorities scrambled to impose “Kovyor” plan, grounding aircraft and restricting communications.

Ukraine strikes Russian Olya port in Astrakhan Oblast, targeting vessel with Iranian drone parts. The Astrakhan Oblast port has been used to deliver military cargo for Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Debris found after Russian Su-30 crash near Ukraine’s Zmiinyi (Snake) Island in Black Sea, Navy says

. Ukrainian officials say radio intercepts showed a Su-30 vanished near Zmiinyi (Snake) Island, with wreckage spotted and the pilot missing.

Intelligence and technology

TWZ: Russia made its missiles smarter — Ukraine’s Patriots are now struggling to catch them. Flight maneuvers and decoys give warheads more ways to beat air defenses.

Militarnyi: Russian Black Sea Fleet’s 43rd Air Regiment loses over half its Su-30SM fighters since 2022. The Crimean-based unit began the war with 12 jets. Seven are now gone, with more damaged.

International

LIVE UPDATE: Putin lands in Alaska for meeting with Trump. Earlier, the US President Donald Trump suggested that a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine might require some territorial exchange for the benefit of both sides.

Trump says Putin’s “genes” may be responsible for strikes on Ukrainian civilians

. He also claimed Ukraine may receive some security guarantees.

“War criminal on US soil”: Alaska erupts as Putin lands for Trump summit. Local voices unite against what they see as legitimizing tyranny.

Lavrov wears “USSR” sweater in Alaska, as his colleague makes it clear — no peace deal signing today. Putin and Trump will sit across from each other as Alaska braces for tense discussions that will shape Europe’s future.

Global crowds demand “no new Munich” as Trump-Putin summit excludes Zelenskyy. Global demonstrations reject territorial concessions as bilateral meeting sidelines Ukrainian president

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar says Kremlin has joined Orbán’s campaign against him. The Kremlin’s spy agency echoed Viktor Orbán’s rhetoric, portraying Magyar as a Brussels stooge ahead of April’s elections.

Humanitarian and social impact

From Kharkiv to Kherson, Russia’s war on civilians kills again in latest day of strikes. Ukraine’s Air Force said it intercepted 63 of 97 Russian drones overnight, but two Iskander-M missiles and several UAVs still hit 13 locations.

“Get out now”: Ukraine tells families to flee as 5 more Donetsk towns face Russian guns closing in. Regional officials added Druzhkivka and four nearby villages to the evacuation list as Russian strikes reach 3,000 a day.

Read our earlier daily review here.

If Vladimir Putin was hoping Donald Trump was still on his side against Ukraine, he left their summit very disappointed, Andrew Feinberg reports from Anchorage, Alaska

‘Putin achieved most of what he wanted and Trump achieved very little,’ the U.S. president’s former national security adviser John Bolton said

A nebulous amount of ‘progress’ has been made, and the two might meet again. But it’s pretty clear here that Trump got played in Alaska, writes Holly Baxter — and Putin got exactly what he came for

Putin humiliated Trump and failed to agreed a ceasefire. Now the US president has to sell that to his allies, explains World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley

The unsubstantiated argument is one Trump has repeated many times since he decided to run again last year

Putin and Trump emerged after closed-door talks in Anchorage, Alaska, stretched almost three hours

Donald Trump gave a somewhat awkward response to Vladimir Putin’s invite to Moscow following their meeting in Alaska.

Trump and Putin had several moments during the Alaska summit when they had the opportunity to be alone together

Leaders offer scant details about what is discussed during Anchorage talks

The Russian leader’s facial expression seems to have already stolen the show

The two leaders greeted one another like friends as they shook hands and patted each other’s backs in a historic moment in Alaska

Chaotic scenes unfolded as press shouted questions at US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin with the world leaders meeting for crunch Ukraine peace talks.

‘I didn’t see the kneepads on that pic, so just deleted and reposted with a different pic,’ Piers Morgan tweeted after pulling the original post down

This is the historic moment US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands as the world leaders arrived in Alaska for crunch Ukraine peace talks.

On 15 August, Alaska’s Anchorage is hosting a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a Cold War–era military installation once used to counter the Soviet Union.

11:40 PM: Ukrainian social media burst with anger, fury, and dissapointment after Trump’s warm greeting to Putin and a red carpet welcome. 

“I CAN’T WATCH THIS NEWS!

The world has gone mad.
I want to get off this planet.

In what’s supposed to be a civilized world, shaking the hand of a bloody murderer is pure savagery!” one of the users told Euromaidan Press. 

"Red carpet". Ukrainian artist Oleh Shupliaк depicted meeting of US President Trump and Russian President Putin

Russia's war has killed 13,800 civilians, not counting victims in cities such as Mariupol, where thousands may have been killed in Russian attacks
Oleh Shupliaк pic.twitter.com/79vunGbjz7

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) August 15, 2025

11:33 PM: The White House posted a photo of Trump and Putin on X. Their closed-door talks are set to last six hours — until 5 a.m. Kyiv time. Trump once vowed to “leave very quickly” if Putin wasn’t serious. Thirty minutes in, he’s still there.

11:00 PM: NBC News has compared Trump’s greetings of Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zerlen, calling the handshake with the Russian president “seemingly warm,” which “stands in stark contrast to the extraordinary White House clash between Trump and Zelenskyy in late February.”

“Trump and Vice President JD Vance chastised Zelenskyy inside the Oval Office, reprimanding the Ukrainian president for not showing enough gratitude to the US for its military assistance,” the report says. 

Kremlin footage shows the Putin–Trump meeting kicking off.

Foreign Minister Lavrov and presidential aide Ushakov flank Putin; US Secretary of State Rubio and special envoy Witkoff flank Trump.

Smiles and handshakes all around. pic.twitter.com/H546AHJikQ

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) August 15, 2025

10:40 PM: Putin ignores a journalist’s question whether he intends to stop killings of Ukrainian civilians. 

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, July 2025 was the deadliest month for Ukraine since 2022, due to relentless Russian attacks that included 6,000 Shahed-type drones. Some 286 civilians were killed and 1,388 were injured, marking the highest civilian toll since May 2022. 

Presidents Trump and Putin arrive at Anchorage, Alaska, walk the red carpet together, and pose, smiling and relaxed, for some photos.

Journalist. President Putin will you stop killing civilians?

Putin pretends he doesn't hear.https://t.co/J3rW0h0Q0X pic.twitter.com/9OivG6YlIr

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) August 15, 2025

10:30 PM: When asked by Russian state media if he anticipated US sanctions easing after the Trump–Putin summit in Alaska, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed confidence.

“They will certainly be lifted for some, that’s clear,” Lavrov told the state news agency RIA Novosti.

In the lead-up to Friday’s summit, the US Treasury Department issued a license temporarily suspending certain sanctions on Russia until 20 August.

10:10 PM: Trump and Putin met next to their planes. 

10:00 PM: Trump and Putin will hold talks in “three on three”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov will join the Russian president’s the negotiations with Trump. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Kremlin’s team from the American side, CNN reports. 

9:50 PM: US President Donald Trump landed at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Russian ruler Vladimir Putin also arrived at the base, around 30 minutes after Trump, according to Sky News. 

Editorial: As the Trump-Putin summit takes place in Alaska, the prospects for a lasting settlement in Ukraine are, at best, only at the ‘end of the beginning’ stage

Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev met a bear in Alaska ahead of upcoming crunch talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia has been accused of sending ‘signals’ ahead of the summit in Alaska

Ukrainian soldiers were able to break the horns of war of Russian occupiers near Dobropillia in Donetsk Oblast, analysts at DeepState report.

Dobropillia is a city leading to Pokrovsk, which Russia has been trying to capture for one and a half years.

Ahead of the Trump-Putin talks in Alaska, Russia intended to show strength and present the capture of Donetsk Oblast as inevitable. Moscow needs these territories for a more favorable deal, but for the Russian occupiers, it ends in destruction.

“I thank our 79th and 82nd Air Assault Brigades, which are fighting precisely there, on the Dobropillia axis,” Zelenskyy said.

He also highlighted the Azov soldiers, who took defensive positions on the Pokrovsk front to block Russian forces advancing in Donetsk Oblast.

The corps moved into what has been described as “one of the most difficult sections of the front.”

Previously, the area was defended by Tactical Group “Pokrovsk,” which “absolutely could not cope with defense on this section,” according to military sources.

Meanwhile, Azov National Guard Corps soldiers, together with adjacent units, say they have cleared six settlements on the Pokrovsk axis: Hruzke, Rubizhne, Novovodyane, Petrivka, Vesele, and Zolotyi Kolodiaz.

According to the Ukrainian military, 271 Russian occupiers were killed, 101 were wounded, and 13 were taken prisoner. Additionally, one Russian tank and two armored combat vehicles were destroyed or damaged, along with 37 vehicles and motorcycles, and three artillery pieces.

Azov emphasizes that Russian advances in this sector have been halted, though “stabilization operations” are still ongoing.

Earlier, DeepState reported that Russian occupiers were close to breaking through on the Pokrovsk axis.

Russian forces =dramatically expanded their breakthrough along the Pokrovsk–Kostiantynivka road. What began as a 10-kilometer salient in May 2025 near Malynivka, Nova Poltavka, and Novoolenivka extended to 23 kilometers.