After three hours in Alaska, the results are in: Putin scored a perfect diplomatic victory, Trump abandoned his core demands, and Ukraine faces an impossible choice between constitutional suicide and losing American support.

The stunning reversal shows how completely Trump capitulated across every dimension while Putin orchestrated a masterclass in presidential humiliation.

Before Alaska, Trump threatened Putin with “stark economic penalties” and demanded an immediate ceasefire. After three hours with the Russian leader, Trump dropped both threats while pressuring Ukraine to surrender the very fortress belt that has protected its heartland since 2014.

The Alaska report card

The choreography of humiliation

Putin didn’t just win diplomatically—he staged a public humiliation of American power that would have been unthinkable during the Cold War.

Start with the visuals. US soldiers dropped to their knees to unfurl a red carpet for Putin’s arrival. Trump personally drove the Russian leader in the presidential limousine—a gesture so unprecedented that diplomatic protocol experts couldn’t find parallels.

Then came the final briefing, where Putin spoke first from a podium bearing the seal of the US presidency. His remarks ran twice as long as Trump’s, establishing who controlled the narrative.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova captured Moscow’s glee: “Three years [Western media] told us about Russia’s isolation, and today they saw the red carpet that welcomed the Russian president in the USA.”

The optics weren’t accidental—they were psychological warfare. Putin wanted the world to see American soldiers literally bowing before Russian power.

Behind closed doors: Putin controls the agenda

The meeting itself revealed Putin’s control extended beyond ceremony to substance. Russia successfully demanded that General Keith Kellogg—considered too pro-Ukraine by the Kremlin—be excluded from the US delegation.

The summit format also favored Putin. What was supposed to be a broader delegation meeting shrank to just leaders, foreign ministers, translators, and one adviser each. Putin got exactly the intimate setting he wanted, with minimal American institutional pushback.

Even Trump’s famous preference for one-on-one meetings—which led to his Helsinki disaster in 2017, when he publicly sided with Putin over US intelligence agencies, causing a major diplomatic scandal—was limited to a few minutes in the presidential car without a translator. Not enough time for real negotiation, but plenty for Putin to set the tone.

The $205 million daily gift: How Trump saved Putin’s war economy

Here’s what Trump actually abandoned: secondary sanctions targeting countries that buy Russian oil. These weren’t ordinary pressure tactics—they were designed to make Russian energy “too toxic” to purchase by imposing punitive tariffs on entire nations.

Trump had already shown he meant business. Just days before Alaska, he slapped 25% tariffs on India over Russian oil purchases. The threat was credible and escalating.

But three hours with Putin changed everything. “Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about it,” Trump told Fox News about the sanctions. “Maybe I’ll have to think about it in 2-3 weeks, but right now we don’t have to think about it.”

That’s a daily gift worth approximately $205 million to Russia’s war machine. Putin can now fund his military without worrying about economic isolation.

The sanctions relief wasn’t collateral damage—it was Putin’s primary objective.

As Serhiy Sydorenko from European Pravda noted, this became “one of Putin’s key victories” because these nuclear-option sanctions “are considered the most effective for influencing Russia.”

Trump abandons ceasefire demands, accepts Putin’s timeline

The most revealing shift came in what Trump stopped talking about after Alaska. Before the summit, Trump insisted a ceasefire was his “red line” and told reporters he “won’t be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire.”

After three hours with Putin, the word “ceasefire” disappeared entirely from Trump’s vocabulary. Neither the final briefing nor Trump’s 30-minute Fox News interview mentioned it once.

Axios reporter Barak Ravid explained the reversal: “President Trump told Zelensky and NATO leaders that Putin doesn’t want a ceasefire and prefers a comprehensive deal to end the war. Trump said he ‘thinks a quick peace agreement is better than a ceasefire.'”

This represented complete capitulation to Putin’s negotiating position. The Russian leader had consistently rejected temporary ceasefires, demanding instead a permanent settlement that would legitimize territorial gains and prevent Ukraine from rebuilding its defenses.

Security guarantees “like NATO without NATO”: Ukraine’s one major win

The only positive outcome for Ukraine from the Alaska summit deserves a pause. Trump’s agreement to US security guarantees represents a seismic shift that went largely unnoticed.

For months, Trump insisted America had no role in guaranteeing Ukraine’s post-war security. “European affairs,” he called it. Europe’s problem to solve.

That position crumbled in Alaska. Trump not only agreed to participate but told European leaders the guarantees would be “like NATO.” American troops might participate, he indicated—a complete reversal of his isolationist stance.

French President Macron first revealed this shift on August 13, but Trump confirmed it definitively after meeting Putin. Even Putin acknowledged the arrangement during the final briefing.

For Ukraine, this represents genuine strategic value. America’s absence from plans to give Ukraine real protection from further Russian attacks has scared off EU allies from committing boots on the ground, and could be a major step for Ukraine’s security—if they’re credible and long-term.

Trump confirmed this agreement in his Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, and, according to NBC sources, Trump directly engaged with Zelensky and European leaders by phone Saturday morning about “the US being party to a potential NATO-like security guarantee for Ukraine as part of a deal struck with Russia.”

Putin also acknowledged the arrangement back in Moscow, telling officials that future security arrangements for Ukraine had been discussed and calling the talks “frank and substantive.”

The unprecedented demand: No country has voluntarily surrendered territory since WWII

Putin’s territorial demands represent something virtually unprecedented in post-World War II history: demanding a defending country voluntarily surrender its own sovereign territory to end a war. There are no meaningful examples of this happening since 1945.

Even Israel’s return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt was the opposite scenario—returning previously occupied foreign territory in exchange for peace and recognition.

Yet Trump is asking Ukraine to do what no country has done in nearly 80 years: hand over its own land to an aggressor. And not just any land—the fortress belt that has protected Ukraine’s heartland since 2014.

The fortress belt ultimatum: Surrender what Russia couldn’t capture

Putin is demanding Ukraine surrender a 50-kilometer chain of fortified cities that Russian forces have repeatedly failed to capture through three years of warfare.

The fortress belt stretches from Sloviansk through Kramatorsk to Kostyantynivka—Ukraine’s eastern shield built over 11 years since 2014. These aren’t just strategic positions; they’re Ukraine’s last major defensive line in the east.

Reuters reports that Trump told Zelenskyy directly: Putin will freeze other front lines if Ukraine surrenders all of Donetsk, including areas Russia doesn’t occupy.

The Institute for the Study of War has repeatedly noted that Russian forces cannot break through or encircle these positions. That’s why Putin wants Ukraine to abandon them voluntarily—he’s asking Trump to achieve what his military couldn’t.

Ukrainian officials called this a “stab in the back.” As one senior official told the Financial Times: “He just wants a quick deal.”

The historical parallel is unavoidable. In 1938, Nazi Germany couldn’t capture Czechoslovakia’s fortified Sudetenland through military force. So Hitler demanded it diplomatically. Six months after Czechoslovakia complied, the entire country was occupied.

Putin’s maximalist agenda: erasing Ukraine entirely

Putin’s demands reveal his true goal isn’t territorial adjustment—it’s systematic elimination of Ukrainian statehood. The New York Times reports Putin also demanded Russian become an official language in Ukraine and protections for Russian Orthodox churches.

These aren’t cultural concessions. They’re tools for permanent Russian influence designed to hollow out Ukrainian sovereignty from within.

Putin also refuses to meet with Zelenskyy, whom he considers “an illegitimate president of an artificial country,” according to European Pravda. That’s not negotiation—that’s denial of Ukraine’s right to exist.

Combined with territorial surrender, these demands would reduce Ukraine to a Russian vassal state while Putin positions himself to complete the country’s elimination.

Monday’s impossible choice

Zelenskyy flies to Washington Monday facing the choice Putin engineered: accept terms that violate Ukraine’s constitution or risk losing American support.

Ukrainian officials told the Financial Times that Zelenskyy won’t agree to surrender Donetsk and Luhansk—a red line written into Ukraine’s constitution. But he’ll discuss territory with Trump, knowing that refusal could mean isolation.

The Monday meeting will happen in the same Oval Office where Trump and JD Vance gave Zelensky a “brutal public dressing-down” six months ago over Ukraine’s reluctance to accept previous territorial demands.

European leaders are considering joining Zelensky in Washington, but their influence is limited. They can’t replace American military backing, and Putin knows it.

As Ukrainian civil society leader Olga Aivazovska noted, territorial concessions would raise fundamental questions: “It will also open the question of why we’ve been defending ourselves all these years.”

How Putin engineered the perfect trap

Step back and see Putin’s strategy. He went to Alaska not to negotiate but to create an impossible situation for Ukraine. Every path now leads toward Russian victory, just through different mechanisms.

• Accept Putin’s terms and Ukraine loses its strongest defenses while becoming a vassal state.
• Reject them and risk losing the American support needed to prevent conquest.
• Try to find middle ground and Putin can always demand more while Trump increases pressure.

Putin couldn’t break Ukraine’s fortress belt through military force, so he got America’s president to demand Ukraine surrender it voluntarily. He couldn’t cut off sanctions through diplomacy, so he manipulated Trump into providing economic amnesty. He couldn’t achieve legitimacy through reform, so he extracted red carpet rehabilitation through personal charm.

The Alaska summit wasn’t diplomacy, but calculated psychological warfare. Putin understood Trump’s psychology and played it perfectly, turning America’s president from Ukraine’s protector into his unwitting agent of pressure.

Ukraine’s only path forward now is hoping Trump’s security guarantee commitment proves more durable than his sanctions threats. But given what happened in Alaska, that’s a dangerous bet to make with national survival.

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.

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.

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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.

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:

Truth 1: Peoples have the right to exist. They call this a “territorial dispute” when Russian officials openly admit genocidal intent.

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.

Truth 2: Truth and justice make civilizations great, not strongmen. Trump thinks Putin is powerful. He said Russian troops “retreated” from Kyiv because they got stuck in the mud, not because Ukrainians stood and fought.  He looks past Zelenskyy, thinking Ukraine doesn’t have the cards.

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.

Truth 3: Unconfronted evil grows. Politicians say: “This war needs to end, it’s cost thousands of lives.”

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.

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.

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.”

Journalist: “When will you stop killing civilians?”
Putin pretends not to hear.
Minutes later — he and Trump slip into the presidential Cadillac for talks. pic.twitter.com/z7mrfIfIgl

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) August 15, 2025

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.

"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

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.

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.

How do you score a three-hour meeting that produces no deal to end a war? If you’re Donald Trump, the answer is simple: 10 out of 10. The president emerged from his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin declaring total success despite acknowledging that “not all points were agreed upon” and confirming there was “no deal” on ending the Russo-Ukrainian war. His reasoning? “We got along great,” Trump told Fox News. But here’s where it gets interesting. Trump immediately shifted responsibility for any future agreement to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Now it’s really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done,” he said, announcing plans for a trilateral meeting between himself, Putin, and the Ukrainian leader.

What actually happened in that room? The 15 August meeting at Elmendorf-Richardson military base started as a planned one-on-one but expanded to include six officials total. Trump brought Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Putin arrived with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential assistant Yury Ushakov. The substance? Trump says he and Putin agreed on territorial exchanges and American security guarantees for Ukraine.

“I think those are the points we discussed, and those are the points on which we mostly reached agreement,” he told Fox News, describing the atmosphere as “warm.”

Here’s the catch: Trump refused to detail what’s actually preventing a final deal. He would only say he wanted to “see what we can do.” Why the confidence then? Trump believes momentum is building.

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

For Putin, the direct talks with a US leader offered symbolic validation after years of isolation, though his demands—including Ukraine’s withdrawal from occupied regions, forsaking NATO membership, and sanction relief—amount to Ukraine’s capitulation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was excluded from the summit, sparking concerns among European allies that Kyiv could be pressured into territorial concessions. The US president wasted no time following up. He called Zelenskyy the morning after his Putin meeting—16 August—in what both the White House and Zelenskyy’s office described as a “lengthy” conversation that included NATO leaders. 

Trump’s advice to the Ukrainian president was blunt: “A deal needs to be made.”

Both sides called the nearly three-hour Alaska session “constructive” without providing specifics. Trump said he achieved “really significant progress” with Putin, whom he described as a “strong guy” and “incredibly tough.”

But there’s a complication. Putin’s assistant Yury Ushakov—the same aide who sat in that Alaska meeting—told Russian media that “the topic of holding a trilateral summit of Putin, Trump and Zelenskyy has not yet been raised.” Russian officials also said they don’t know when Putin and Trump will meet again.

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. 

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.

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. 

US President Donald Trump shakes hand of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin in Alaska

Since 2022, Russia's war in Ukraine has killed 13,800 civilians, including children
Pravda Gerashchenko pic.twitter.com/Ae97fgUSjy

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) August 15, 2025

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. 

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.

During the Alaska meeting, the issue of territorial exchange will be discussed in particular, but any concrete decisions on this will be made by Ukraine, US President Donald Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One en route to Alaska, according to Clash Report. 

His statement came ahead of his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which will focus on the end of Russia’s war against Ukraine. One possible subject of discussion is the ceding of part of Ukrainian territory to Russia. At the same time, there is no hint of any security guarantees that the West might offer to prevent another Russian invasion.

The Russian side does not plan to sign any documents or agreements following the Alaska meeting. According to Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Trump and Putin may address the press to announce agreements reached verbally.

Trump added that he is attending the meeting not to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine, but to bring all parties to the negotiating table. According to the American leader, the US will provide Ukraine with certain security guarantees together with European countries, but this will not be done under NATO’s umbrella.

Trump was also asked to comment on Russian strikes in Ukraine. He speculated that Putin is doing this to strengthen his position ahead of the negotiations. He said that in this way, Putin hopes to help them reach the best possible deal. He also suggested that the killings of Ukrainians could simply be linked to his genetics.

At the same time, the US president expressed some optimism about today’s talks with Putin. He claimed that he likes the process because they want to do business, but the Russians will not conduct business until the war is resolved.

Trump also reminded that the Russian economy is going through difficult times, so if the negotiations fail, Russia will face great problems.

Ukrainian border guard drones from the Phoenix unit have destroyed a Russian BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system, a main battle tank, and up to 10 Russian soldiers in Donetsk Oblast. On 14 August, the State Border Guard Service released footage of the strikes, showing FPV drones hitting the targets with precision.

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Phoenix unit hits Russian Grad, tank, infantry in Donetsk Oblast

According to the Border Guard Service, the operation targeted high-value Russian assets in the oblast. In addition to the Grad and the tank, the strikes destroyed a UAZ-452 “Bukhanka” van, a Ural military truck, other vehicles, several motorcycles used for troop movement, and fortified positions.

The released video shows FPV drones striking Russian soldiers, on foot and vehicles, the Grad launcher on the move, and the tank — the latter positioned inside a building at the moment of impact.

Around 10 Russian soldiers killed

Preliminary assessments by the Border Guard Service suggest the operation eliminated about ten Russian soldiers. 

Phoenix

Defense Express, commenting on the released video, reported that the border guard pilots used unmanned aerial systems capable of both reconnaissance and precision strikes, allowing the unit to operate deep inside contested areas while minimizing exposure to Russian air defenses.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed North Korean troops sent to fight in Ukraine as “heroic” in a letter to Kim Jong Un, North Korean state media reported Friday.

The letter comes as North Korea plans to send an additional 25,000 to 30,000 troops to assist Russia in their war against Ukraine, tripling Pyongyang’s military commitment from the original 11,000 soldiers deployed in November 2024.

It also reflects Russia’s growing reliance on North Korean support, with Ukrainian intelligence reporting that 60% of artillery shells fired by Russian forces recently were North Korean-made, compared to only 30% that were Russian-produced.

Russia’s highest-level acknowledgment of North Korean combat role

In a letter marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule, Putin recalled how Soviet Red Army units and North Korean forces fought together to end Japan’s colonial occupation, saying “This was demonstrated by the heroic participation of the D​PRK soldiers in liberating the territory of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian occupiers.”

Putin’s letter coincided with a visit by a Russian delegation to Pyongyang, where State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin thanked

Kim for sending “excellent soldiers” to Ukraine. Kim mentioned he had a phone call with Putin on Wednesday, agreeing to expanded bilateral cooperation.

North Korea’s expanding military commitment despite heavy losses

Ukrainian intelligence reports indicate around 4,000 of the original 11,000 North Korean soldiers were killed or injured in Kursk Oblast, according to Western officials. Despite these casualties, North Korea plans additional deployments.

North Korea confirmed in April 2025 for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, marking the country’s first participation in a major armed conflict since the Korean War.

Military cooperation deepens through technology transfers

The troop deployment stems from a mutual defense treaty signed by Putin and Kim in June 2024, which requires both nations to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.

Ukrainian intelligence confirms Russia and North Korea have reached agreements to establish drone production capabilities on North Korean territory, with Russia providing blueprints for Iranian Shahed-type drones.

Russia has also agreed to provide MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets to North Korea in exchange for military support, according to US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo.

Russia’s growing dependence on North Korean munitions

South Korean estimates indicate North Korea sent over 15,000 containers of weapons since September 2023, with shipments including 9 million shells, hundreds of launchers, and KN-23 ballistic missiles that now account for 70% of Russian artillery use.

Strategic implications for Ukraine’s resistance

Putin’s letter came three days ahead of Friday’s summit between Putin and Trump, the first between a sitting US and Russian president since 2021, as Trump seeks to broker an end to Russia’s more than three-year war in Ukraine.

The deepening Russia-North Korea axis represents what Kim Jong Un has described as the Korean Peninsula being the front line in a new Cold War, with Pyongyang as a key player in a revived Cold War axis that includes Moscow and Beijing.

South Korean intelligence reports North Korea receives approximately $200 million, rice supplies, and advanced space technology in exchange for its military support, including assistance with launching military reconnaissance satellites.

Hundreds of demonstrators lined Anchorage streets Wednesday with Ukrainian flags and signs reading “Putin won’t stop at Ukraine” as they protested Vladimir Putin’s arrival for Friday’s 11:00 a.m. summit with Donald Trump at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Trump’s admission of needing “give and take” on boundaries between Russia and Ukraine has protesters worried he’ll legitimize Putin’s demands for complete control of four Ukrainian oblasts while keeping President Volodymyr Zelenskyy out of decisions about his own country’s future. Trump told Fox News Radio there’s a “25% chance” the Alaska talks could fail, as per BBC.

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“I don’t like it at all” – NAACP leader rejects Putin on US soil

Benny Kobert, who leads the Fairbanks National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter, didn’t mince words about Putin setting foot on US soil. “I don’t like it at all,” he told Euromaidan Press. “There was a reason why Putin was restricted from touching United States soil because of the crimes that he’s been committing all over the world and the genocide that he committed on his own people.”

Kobert worries about Trump’s track record of following through on his most controversial promises. “With all the misinformation, this is something that we really need to pay attention to because everything Trump is touting and wanting to do, he’s finding some way of doing it. And this is detrimental to our democracy.”

Russia wants everything, Ukraine gets nothing

Russia’s ceasefire conditions aren’t exactly subtle: complete control of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, full occupation of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, NATO membership ruled out for Ukraine, and limits on Ukraine’s armed forces. Ukraine rejects these terms as surrender.

Svetlana Pestronak brought both personal pain and professional insight to Wednesday’s protest. The longtime Alaskan researcher was born in Soviet Belarus, and her Ukrainian husband Igor hails from Odesa. She described standing “in solidarity with Ukraine” while honoring “the victims of mass rape, including child rape, the victims of torture and mutilation and murder.”

She criticized Alaska’s leadership for embracing what she called “a very misleading and dangerous message” about the summit’s supposed benefits, warning it plays into “long-standing Russian propaganda that we take Ukraine first, Alaska is next.”

“Zelenskyy should be here” – fury over exclusion from own country’s fate

Carmen Brooks couldn’t hide her outrage that Zelenskyy wasn’t invited to Friday’s discussions about his country’s future. “Putin is a war criminal and he is being welcomed here to Alaska,” she told Euromaidan Press. “Not inviting Zelenskyy to a meeting that involves his country and major decisions doesn’t seem very right.”

What makes this worse? European leaders had to extract assurances from Trump in a separate call about five principles including keeping Ukraine “at the table” for follow-up talks and avoiding land swaps before a ceasefire.

When asked whether Putin should be arrested, Brooks replied simply: “Yes.”

“These parents deserve answers” – Trump’s war crimes data purge

Protester after protester brought up Trump’s elimination of the State Department unit tracking Ukraine’s kidnapped children. “Trump deleted the department that was tracking the missing children of Ukraine and I have a real big problem with that,” one protester said. “These parents deserve answers.”

The discontinued Yale University program had documented over 30,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces before Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cut its funding.

Environmental activist Cass said she came because: “I’m here protesting to show support for Ukraine and the war effort, but also to protest a war criminal being on US soil, specifically Alaska soil, and also protesting authoritarianism and fascism in general, which Putin and Trump both embody.”

From Cold War fortress to Putin’s welcome mat

Friday’s summit happens at the same military installation once used to counter Soviet expansion. Protesters see the irony: Putin’s presence validates exactly the imperial ambitions this base was built to deter.

Andrew Keller demanded that “Alaskans need to have input” in any resource negotiations rumored to be part of potential deals, “not Trump.” He called Putin’s presence “totally inappropriate” and argued that “you don’t invade the borders of a democratically elected free state.”

The protests come as Trump suggested he would know “in the first few minutes” whether Friday’s meeting was worth continuing, adding it would “end very quickly” otherwise.

Igor Pasternak, who left Odesa in 1999 and now calls Alaska home, told Euromaidan Press that seeing local support provided “a little bit healing” despite his pain over “not only what Russia does to Ukraine but also the reaction from some members of our government.”

Meanwhile, Russian propagandists are using the summit to revive territorial claims to Alaska itself, leveraging the summit’s symbolic venue choice to fuel imperial fantasies about reclaiming the territory Russia sold to the United States in 1867.

The Kremlin’s delegation has arrived in Alaska. A historic summit between Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump is beginning in Anchorage, but the Kremlin has already warned — no documents will be signed, UNIAN reports. 

Peskov: talks on Ukrainian settlement

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, said the war in Ukraine will be the key topiс. 

“President Putin and President Trump intend to talk, they are ready to talk, and they will discuss the most difficult issues,” he claimed. 

He stressed that no documents are expected to be signed at the meeting, but during a joint press conference Putin will “outline the agreements and understandings that will be reached.”

Ukrainian position not yet on the agenda

Peskov clarified that the current talks are between Russia and the US, and that “discussion with the Ukrainian side will come at later stages.” He also described the war in Ukraine as “a complex and multifaceted substance” and added that “they are unlikely to receive an adequate response from the Europeans.”

Russia is redeploying forces from Sumy Oblast to Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, preparing for decisive battles in the Pokrovsk sector. The buildup coincides with preparations for US President Donald Trump’s and Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s meeting in Alaska, where ending the war in Ukraine will be discussed, Ranok.Live reports.

Over 100,000 Russian troops near Pokrovsk

Spokesman for the Dnipro Operational-Strategic Grouping Victor Trehubov says more than 100,000 Russian troops are concentrated in the Pokrovsk front despite heavy losses. He explains that Moscow troops are willing to sacrifice positions in Sumy Oblast to create an illusion of success in Donetsk Oblast.

“That’s a huge number for such a scale — enough to attack a European country, not just one unfortunate small Pokrovsk,” Trehubov says.

Ukrainian forces inflict losses and stabilize the front

In the past two days, Ukrainian defenders have repelled 53 Russian assaults in more than 20 settlements in the Pokrovsk sector. The Defense Forces, including the 1st NGU Azov Corps, eliminated 151 occupiers, wounded over 70, and captured eight Russian soldiers.

“As a result of the fighting, the enemy is suffering heavy losses,” Azov stated.

Putin strengthens position before talks

Analysts believe the troop concentration in Donetsk Oblast is an attempt by the Kremlin to create a media effect and strengthen Putin’s negotiating position ahead of the 15 August Alaska summit with Trump, UNN reports. The key topic there will be a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.

A surge in Russian ballistic missiles with enhanced maneuvering capabilities is straining Ukraine’s Patriot air defense systems, The War Zone reports. The US Defense Intelligence Agency has confirmed the upgrades are making interceptions harder, forcing Ukraine’s defenders to deal with unpredictable flight paths and radar decoys.

Russia’s missile upgrades slash Patriot interception rates

Ukraine has received three Patriot batteries from the United States, two from Germany, one from Romania, and another jointly supplied by Germany and the Netherlands. The War Zone notes the systems are paired with various interceptors, and US officials said in July they were working with European allies to send more. Patriot remains Ukraine’s only robust defense against ballistic missiles.

A Special Inspector General report citing a DIA response says the Ukrainian Air Force has struggled to consistently stop upgraded Russian missiles, TWZ says. The improvements allow warheads to change trajectory and perform maneuvers instead of following a traditional ballistic arc.

Iskander-Ms, KN-23s, and new decoys complicate defense

The report does not name the missile types or detail the upgrades. However, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat in May mentioned Russia’s Iskander-M and North Korea’s KN-23 as examples. Both are short-range ballistic missiles and among the most common in Russian strikes. Ihnat said Russia’s improved weapons complicate interception but do not make it impossible.

Russia’s heavy use of Iskander-Ms early in the 2022 invasion exposed an existing decoy capability, though not all missiles carried it. Ihnat’s comments suggest Russia may now be fitting decoys to more of them. Reports have long indicated Iskander-Ms can fly depressed trajectories and maneuver mid-flight to challenge defenses. Russia claims its Kinzhal missile, derived from the Iskander-M, has high maneuverability, and those developments may have influenced ground-launched designs.

The North Korean KN-23 resembles the Iskander-M and reportedly can perform a “pull-up” maneuver in its terminal phase. Ukraine’s defense intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told The War Zone in June that Russia worked with North Korea to improve the KN-23’s accuracy, possibly boosting other missile types as well.

Ukraine’s options remain limited

Patriot’s confirmed difficulties raise concerns for other militaries, including the US Army, which is working to expand and improve its own Patriot forces. 

Ukraine entered the war with a limited number of Soviet-era S-300V1 systems, which had some anti-ballistic capability. It is unclear if any remain in service, and interceptor stocks would have dwindled over three years of fighting.

Russia has scaled back missile and drone attacks ahead of the 16 August meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

 

Russia is building hundreds of new T-90M tanks a year—enough to rebuild some of its battered tank regiments and establish an armored reserve for Russia’s wider war on Ukraine … or for some future war against NATO.

That’s the conclusion of a recent study by the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team. But there’s a problem. According to one expert, CIT is wrong. Sergio Miller, an analyst and former British Army intelligence officer, believes Russia is struggling to complete even 100 T-90Ms a year—and most of those it does complete are revamped T-90As rather than all-new vehicles.

Journalist David Hambling was the first to report on Miller’s claim.

It’s unclear, based on the available public evidence, who is right: CIT’s experts or Miller. But it matters. The scores of tanks CIT believes Russia is producing that Miller thinks are vaporware are enough to equip at least one armored regiment every year.

The 51-ton, three-person T-90M is heavily armored and boasts modern optics and a powerful 125-millimeter main gun. It’s one of the best tanks in the world.

Has there been a “dramatic fall-off” in tank production at Russia’s Uralvagonzavod tank factory, in Sverdlovsk Oblast 1,600 km from Ukraine, to borrow Hambling’s phrasing? Or is Uralvagonzavod churning out fresh tanks at a rate faster than any tank factory in a Western country?

“According to our estimates, Uralvagonzavod produced 60 to 70 T-90M tanks in 2022,” CIT reported. “In 2023, amid efforts to mobilize the defense industry, output may have increased to 140 to 180 tanks, and by 2024, it may have surpassed 200 units annually, possibly approaching a production rate of 250 to 300 tanks per year.”

The word “may” is doing a lot of work here, but it’s worth noting that CIT isn’t alone in perceiving an increasing rate of tank production. A few months ago, Czech analyst Jakub Janovksy concluded Uralvagonzavod has been building between 150 and 200 T-90Ms annually.

For comparison, the US Army’s own tank plant in Ohio, operated by General Dynamics Land Systems, has been producing just a few dozen M-1 Abrams tanks annually—down from 90 a year in the early 2020s.

To be fair to the Americans, they’re not mired in a costly war, and they plan to boost Abrams production with the introduction of a new variant in the coming years. At the same time, the Russian military has shifted to infantry-led assaults in Ukraine, and now deploys—and loses—just a few tanks every month.

That shift means any fresh tanks Russia produces—through new production or by fetching old Cold War tanks from long-term storage and upgrading them—can go toward replacing the roughly 4,000 tanks the Russians have lost in Ukraine. Unless the fighting in Ukraine shifts back to mechanized operations, this restored tank corps can be held in reserve for future conflicts.

Production freefall?

But that’s a moot point if Miller is right and Uralvagonzavod, or UVZ, isn’t building very many T-90Ms. “In total, UVZ only claimed to deliver 100 tanks in 2024,” Miller told Hambling. “I have no idea where the high figures quoted by some Western reporting come from. There is no evidence this is the case.”

In addition to taking Uralvagonzavod’s delivery announcements at face value, Miller scrutinized images of tank shipments in Russia to arrive at his lower production figure. So far this year, he concluded, Russia has completed 10 or fewer T-90Ms.

If Miller is right, Uralvagonzavod could be on track to deliver a fraction of the T-90Ms that Janovsky and CIT anticipate. With so few new tanks, the Kremlin would struggle to restore its depleted armored regiments.

Why T-90M production may be freefalling—if indeed it is—isn’t hard to guess. “Rather than being new builds, the ‘new’ T-90Ms seen in 2024 were in fact upgraded T-90As,” Hambling wrote. “Approximately 300 of the earlier version tanks were produced.”

“It is likely that all available T-90As were withdrawn and upgraded to the T-90M standard,” Hambling added. “In theory, UVZ is capable of producing new T-90Ms from scratch,” he added. But manufacturing a T-90M from the tracks up requires precise welding, which in turn requires a skilled workforce and attentive quality control.

Squeezed by sanctions and competing with the war in Ukraine for men, Uralvagonzavod may have labor and supply problems. “The dramatic fall-off suggests that after they ran out of T-90As to upgrade, UVZ has struggled to make new T-90Ms,” Hambling wrote.

We may not know who’s right about T-90M production unless and until Russia either re-deploys tanks to Ukraine in large numbers—or launches an armored assault on NATO’s eastern flank. Maybe it’s best not to know for now.

Ukraine’s long-range strikes inside Russia have cost Moscow over $74 billion since January, according to fresh data from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The military says the economic toll equals more than 4% of Russia’s annual GDP, with most hits landing deep inside its territory.

Military publishes breakdown of targets and distances

On 15 August, the General Staff released infographics detailing the scope and impact of deep strikes carried out since 1 January 2025. The figures show that 42% of the attacks targeted oil refineries, making them the single most-hit category. Storage facilities were the second most common target at 37%, followed by oil pumping stations at 10%, terminals and ports at 7%, and other facilities at 4%.

The data also breaks down the distances of strikes from Ukraine’s border. Nearly 39.22% of hits landed between 500 and 1,000 km inside Russia, while 37.25% were between 200 and 500 km. Only 13.73% were within 200 km of the border. More than 10% of the strikes reached beyond 1,000 km, a range that underscores Ukraine’s long-range capabilities.

Kyiv links economic losses to targeted infrastructure

The General Staff’s report estimates that the strikes have reduced Russia’s GDP by 4.11% in annual terms. Officials credit the damage to a focus on high-value infrastructure such as refineries, depots, and transport hubs. The statement thanked all personnel involved in the operations and stressed that Ukrainian defense forces are continuing the campaign.

 

Euromaidan Press spoke with Anton Shekhovtsov, a political scientist specializing in Russian extremism and editor of “Russia Against Ukraine: Russian Political Mythology and the War on Ukrainian Identity.” The book brings together thirteen authors — almost half of them Russian — analyzing anti-Ukrainian narratives in Russian society, revealing the ideological foundations behind Russia’s war.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

EUROMAIDAN PRESS: Several chapters in your book deal with genocide rhetoric. What are the most dangerous narratives, and how do they translate into real-life actions?

SHEKHOVTSOV: All authors in this collection who suggest that what Russia is doing is genocide or attempted genocide of the Ukrainian nation — me included — refer to the international definition of genocide adopted by international institutions.

They feel that they cannot be punished, not only for what they’re doing but also for what they’re saying. This creates the atmosphere where Russian soldiers, if not directly instructed to kill civilians and engage in acts of genocide, still feel that whatever they do to Ukrainians is fine, that it is normal. You can kill civilians, you can bomb civilians, you can kill children.

But I feel that it is not just some individual officers and soldiers going crazy and killing everybody they see. I think it is a strategy. When Putin says essentially that Ukraine does not exist, the Ukrainian nation does not exist — what he means is that they should not exist. And the only way for them not to exist is to kill them or to drive them from their territories.

He’s fine with Ukrainians becoming an ethnic minority in a particular EU country. But Ukrainians should not have their own Ukrainian nation-state.

Today’s assault is unprecedented in Ukrainian history, as it targets Ukrainian statehood itself — the very idea that Ukrainians can exist as a sovereign people.

EUROMAIDAN PRESS: You have a whole chapter dedicated to Nikolai Patrushev and the siloviki. What drives their worldview, and why are they the harshest Ukrainophobes?

SHEKHOVTSOV: The siloviki are representatives of the power ministries, power agencies, or intelligence agencies—the entire security apparatus, defense, and police. Those people who have power are the harshest Ukrainophobes because they share a worldview that they already formed in the Soviet Union.

These people were born in the Soviet Union and, more importantly, socialized in the Soviet Union, some even during the Cold War. They have a very security-focused view on geopolitics, specifically on how dangerous it is for Ukraine to be an independent state.

There is a combination of this mythological view — I wouldn’t even call it ideology; it’s a mythological worldview — where everything is divided between evil and good. If everything about Russia is good, and if something they consider to be undermining Russian interests is bad, this is evil. They have a black-and-white picture of the entire world.

So they are demonizing Ukraine. And this is one of the major explanations why it’s not simply an occupation that Russia is striving for, but an actual genocide, an actual destruction of the Ukrainian nation. Not just the occupation, but the destruction.

EUROMAIDAN PRESS: Where do these deep roots of Ukrainophobia come from, and how are they connected to the Kremlin’s politics today?

SHEKHOVTSOV: The roots of anti-Ukrainian sentiment go back to at least the 19th century in the Russian Empire. The authors were writing about the distinction between the two types of Ukrainians.

One type is those Ukrainians who have ethnic roots in the Ukrainian cultural group but were very well integrated into the Russian Empire. They were ethnically Ukrainian, but at the same time, they were really part of the Russian Empire. They were Russified, belonging to the empire and not to their own Ukrainian ethno-cultural community.

At the same time, there was another type of Ukrainian. Those were mostly people living in Ukrainian villages. They would speak Ukrainian, and they were considered by the Russian imperial elites as poor, very poorly educated people who should be ruled. They obviously could not have their own state because it was ridiculous. This distinction actually survived the Russian Empire.

One type is the Soviet Ukrainian, like a Ukrainian communist. This is a good Ukrainian integrated into the Soviet empire. And there was another, the bad Ukrainian — a Ukrainian who wanted to have an independent Ukrainian state, an independent Ukrainian nation. And they were all demonized as Banderites.

EUROMAIDAN PRESS: So the enemy is not the alien one but the one who is very similar but doesn’t want to be us?

SHEKHOVTSOV: Exactly. The Ukrainophobia also stems from the worldview that Ukrainians are not really different from Russians. This is just one branch of the larger Russian tree. There are Greater Russians, Little Russians, and then White Russians. And those who do not agree to that are the enemies. These are bad Ukrainians.

For Putin, he saw these types of Ukrainians. Ukrainians were in the KGB. They were his colleagues. They were not that different from him. Maybe some accents or Ukrainian family names would demonstrate that they were coming from the Ukrainian ethnic cultural group. But the bad Ukrainians, those who said, “No, we are different. We have our own culture, we deserve to have our own nation-state.” Putin’s reaction, not only Putin’s but that of Russian ultra-nationalists, is that you are destroying our Russian nation. You are the separatists.

The Kremlin genuinely believed that most Ukrainians were still “good Ukrainians” who would reject their democratically elected government. Instead, they encountered a nation that had definitively moved beyond imperial categories.

EUROMAIDAN PRESS: How does this compare to what ordinary Russians think, as opposed to the elites?

SHEKHOVTSOV: What’s interesting is that there is a difference between the annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Crimea has existed in Russian mythology since the 1990s. The romantic vision that Crimea was somehow lost by the Russians and should return to Russia was there. However, there was no romantic vision among Russians that Belarus should be part of Russia.

Russian people — I’m not talking about the elite — there was no request from their side to Putin to start the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. There was no demand for genocide.

There were, of course, these crazy Russian fascists and Russian ultra-nationalists who hated Ukrainians and Ukraine. But for ordinary Russians, while they were really happy with returning Crimea to Russia, the full-scale invasion was still something completely different. It was driven by the elites, driven by a significant part of the Russian elites, but not the ordinary people.

In that sense, the war serves the psychological needs of Russia’s security apparatus more than any popular mandate, making it both more dangerous and potentially more fragile than grassroots nationalism.

EUROMAIDAN PRESS: Is this a modern way of thinking, or has Putin gone back to very old patterns?

SHEKHOVTSOV: I think it’s a radicalization of the old patterns, but this radicalization itself is very modern. I don’t really remember such a genocidal drive of the Russians towards Ukrainians. Of course, there was the Holodomor in the 1930s. However, the Holodomor targeted only one part of the Ukrainian nation — people mostly living in villages and smaller towns.

Even if we look at the short history of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in the 1920s, which the Red Army occupied in collaboration with Ukrainian communists, it still remained Ukraine. It was Soviet Ukraine, but Ukraine.

But this attack, this aggression against the Ukrainian national identity, is pretty much unique in history. So it is a radicalization of older patterns.

EUROMAIDAN PRESS: Can you end on a more positive note? What can we take away from this research?

SHEKHOVTSOV: I think the positive aspect of what is happening today is that there is very little chance that Russia indeed succeeds in the destruction of the Ukrainian state and the Ukrainian nation. If we look at the history of the Ukrainian nation, Ukrainians were either unable to defend themselves or were always outnumbered, outsmarted by the Russians, and also by Russian military technology.

Ukraine has never experienced anything like this, and never has such solidarity been present with Ukraine as it is today. Unfortunately, solidarity has eroded somewhat in countries close to Ukraine, like Hungary, Slovakia, and even Poland. Still, the degree of support for Ukraine is the largest in its history.

The book’s findings suggest that understanding Russian Ukrainophobia is crucial for Western policy. These aren’t temporary political grievances that can be negotiated away, but deep-seated imperial reflexes that view Ukrainian independence as an existential threat to Russian identity. Recognizing this helps explain why compromise often fails and why supporting Ukrainian victory serves broader democratic security.

Ukraine’s Air Force said it intercepted 63 of 97 Russian drones overnight on 15 August. Russia also launched two Iskander-M missiles. Despite most drones being destroyed, the strikes killed and injured civilians in Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, and Kherson oblasts, damaging homes, cars, farms, and infrastructure in at least 13 locations.

Nationwide civilian toll in latest wave of attacks

The Air Force reported that Shahed attack drones, decoy UAVs, and ballistic missiles were launched from five directions, targeting both frontline and rear settlements. Aircraft, electronic warfare units, and mobile fire groups were used to repel the assault, but local officials in four oblasts confirmed fresh deaths and injuries alongside severe property damage.

“Impacts from missiles and 34 UAVs were recorded at 13 locations,” the Air Force reported.

Kharkiv Oblast: four killed, two injured

Kharkiv Oblast head Oleh Synehubov said Russian forces attacked five settlements in the last 24 hours, killing four people and injuring two.

Russian attacks killed a 64-year-old man in Kozacha Lopan. In Nechvolodivka, Russian forces killed a 69-year-old man and a 69-year-old woman and injured a 76-year-old woman. In Nova Kozacha, Russian strikes killed a 38-year-old man and injured another 38-year-old man. The attacks damaged detached houses in Kozacha Lopan and Nova Kozacha, two houses and a car in Nechvolodivka, and a garage, two cars, a tractor, and a vegetable storage building in Borova. Russian forces used guided aerial bombs, a Molniya drone, FPV drones, and other UAVs.

Sumy Oblast

The Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported 100 strikes on 46 settlements in 16 communities between the morning of 14 August and the morning of 15 August.

In Miropilska community, a 32-year-old man was injured by an FPV drone. In Sumska community, a gas station was hit by a Russian UAV, burning a civilian vehicle and injuring its driver, who suffered burns. Damage was reported to houses, apartment buildings, civilian cars, and non-residential buildings in Bilopilska, Velykopysarivska, Vorozhbianska, and Hlukhovska communities. Russian forces used guided bombs, multiple rocket launchers, FPV drones, and other UAVs. Eleven people were evacuated from border areas during the day.

Donetsk Oblast: two killed, seven injured

Donetsk Oblast head Vadym Filashkin said Russian shelling on 14 August killed two civilians — one in Kostyantynivka and one in Virivka — and injured seven others across the oblast. 

Kherson Oblast: Russian “human safari” continues

The Kherson Oblast Military Administration’s morning report, covering 06:00 on 14 August to 06:00 on 15 August, said Russian artillery and drone attacks on more than 40 settlements killed one person and injured five others, including a child. Damage included apartment buildings, 22 detached houses, gas pipelines, outbuildings, and a private car.

This morning, around 08:00 on 15 August, Russian artillery hit central Kherson, injuring a 52-year-old man. Another update said a 40-year-old Kherson resident was injured in the same shelling, suffering blast injuries and a concussion. Also around 08:00, a drone struck a home in Kherson, injuring a 45-year-old woman with a concussion and head injuries.

Additional information emerged about earlier shelling in Shliakhove, Beryslav community, which killed two men aged 86 and 56 several days before. Later still, three medical workers — two women aged 47 and a 28-year-old man — sought treatment for blast injuries and concussions sustained in a previous day’s Russian shelling of Kherson.

Alaska’s Anchorage is preparing for the 15 August meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as local protesters warn it could lead to a deal undermining Ukraine. The meeting is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Alaska time (22:00 Kyiv time) at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a Cold War–era military installation once used to counter the Soviet Union.

Trump and Putin’s first meeting since White House return

This will be the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin since Trump returned to the presidency this January. According to the White House, Trump will leave Washington at 06:45 Eastern time (13:45 Kyiv time) and return early on 16 August, Reuters reports. The Kremlin initially claimed the meeting would begin at 11:30 a.m. local time (22:30 Kyiv time).

Trump previously told reporters on 14 August that he would know “in the first few minutes” whether the meeting was worth continuing, adding it would “end very quickly” otherwise. He said his aim was to “set the table” for another meeting that would also involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Speaking to Fox News Radio, Trump said there was a “25% chance” the Alaska talks would fail, according to BBC. He also said “give and take” on boundaries between Russia and Ukraine might be necessary, prompting concern in Kyiv and among allies.

Putin’s praise and demands

AP says Putin praised what he described as Trump’s “sincere efforts” to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Russian leader suggested long-term peace could include a nuclear arms control agreement with the US.

Russia demands for a full ceasefire include complete control of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, full occupation of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, NATO membership ruled out for Kyiv, and limits on Ukraine’s armed forces.

Ukraine rejects these conditions as surrender. A Kremlin source told Reuters some terms could be agreed due to sanctions pressure, but both sides would allegedly face “uncomfortable compromises.”

European and Ukrainian concerns

BBC notes that Zelenskyy and European leaders fear Trump could make concessions without Ukraine’s participation. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Zelenskyy in London on 14 August and warned that “international borders cannot be, and must not be changed by force.” Macron said Trump had clarified NATO would not be part of any future security guarantees, but the US and other parties should be involved.

The New York Times reports that five principles agreed in a call between Trump and European leaders include keeping Ukraine “at the table” for follow-up talks, avoiding land swaps before a ceasefire, securing postwar guarantees, and increasing pressure on Russia if negotiations fail.

Protests in Anchorage ahead of summit

Anchorage Daily News reports that on 14 August, several hundred demonstrators lined busy intersections in Anchorage, waving Ukrainian flags and holding signs critical of both Trump and Putin. One sign read “Putin won’t stop at Ukraine,” while another declared “Zelenskyy should be here,” reflecting demands that Ukraine be included in the talks.

Protesters told ADN they feared the summit would exclude Kyiv from decisions affecting its future. Organizers plan additional demonstrations during the summit, while the Alaska GOP will hold a rally in support of Trump at the same location.

“I’m here protesting to show support for Ukraine and the war effort, but also to protest a war criminal being on US soil, specifically Alaska soil, and also protesting authoritarianism and fascism in general, which Putin and Trump both embody,” one protester told Euromaidan Press.

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BBC reported that Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko said he has “no high expectations” for the Alaska meeting, calling it “already a diplomatic win” for Putin. He warned that “the fate of Ukraine should be decided by Ukrainians” with the direct participation of President Zelenskyy, and said the lack of transparency around the summit creates “lots of risks” for Ukraine’s security and future.

Ukraine currently detains more than 100 foreign mercenaries from 33 countries who were recruited to fight for Russia, according to the I Want to Live project from Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War on 1 August 2025. 

The captives show Russia’s expanding global recruitment drive, while Moscow abandons foreign fighters by excluding them from prisoner exchanges despite Ukraine treating all detainees according to international standards. 

The captured fighters include citizens from Cameroon, Morocco, Somalia, Senegal, Egypt, and dozens of other nations recruited through Russia’s expanding global recruitment network, according to the I Want to Live project.

The scope of foreign captives exposes Russia’s systematic recruitment from economically vulnerable populations worldwide, with Moscow’s promises of wealth and stable careers leading fighters into Ukrainian POW camps where Russia shows no interest in their release.

Russia’s global recruitment reaches 121 countries

The Coordination Headquarters reports that Russia has recruited fighters from 121 countries since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The I Want to Live project, which encourages voluntary surrender, stated that “Russia actively bribes, deceives, and coerces individuals from neighboring Central Asian countries and more into signing contracts.”

The photographs of mercenaries released by Ukrainian authorities represent only a fraction of foreign fighters captured during what the Coordination Headquarters called Russia’s “meat grinder” assaults. Many were recruited through false promises of non-combat roles or civilian employment, only to be deployed directly to front-line positions within days of arrival.

Previous reporting by BBC Russian Service documented over 500 foreigners from 28 countries killed while fighting for Russia, with the actual numbers likely significantly higher due to incomplete record-keeping of non-Russian casualties.

Standard treatment despite abandoned status

The foreign prisoners receive the same treatment as Russian soldiers in Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camps, according to the I Want to Live project. “They sleep in the same facilities, receive the same food and medical care, and have access to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the project stated.

Some countries have sent embassy staff to visit their detained citizens, though Russia has shown no interest in including foreign fighters in prisoner exchanges. “For Russia, these fighters are considered ‘third-rate’ and hold no value to Moscow while in captivity,” the Coordination Headquarters stated.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stated their commitment to Geneva Convention obligations in treating detainees, contrasting sharply with documented treatment of Ukrainian prisoners in Russian custody, where international monitors report systematic torture and denial of medical care.

Recruitment targets economic desperation

Russia’s recruitment strategy particularly targets migrants and students from economically challenged nations. Forbes Ukraine reported in May 2024 that Russian recruiters operate in at least 21 countries, using databases of foreign nationals who previously sought employment in Russia.

The recruitment extends across continents, from Central Asian republics like Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to African nations including Burkina Faso, Mali, and the Central African Republic where Wagner Group maintains military bases. Cuban authorities have issued conflicting statements about their citizens’ participation, while Nepalese and Indian nationals have been documented among both casualties and prisoners.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in August 2025 that Ukrainian forces reported encountering mercenaries from China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and African countries, adding that “we will respond” to this escalating threat.

Exchange complications and repatriation challenges

The presence of foreign fighters complicates prisoner exchange negotiations, as Russia typically excludes non-Russian nationals from swap arrangements. 

The case differs significantly from Ukrainian foreign volunteers, who serve under official military contracts and maintain clear legal status under international humanitarian law. The International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine operates under direct Ukrainian military command, ensuring proper combatant status for its members. Ukraine has also announced plans to grant citizenship to foreign fighters serving in its Defense Forces and their families.

With intervention from international organizations and home countries, some foreign fighters may eventually return to their homelands, though the Coordination Headquarters warned that “their stories serve as a warning to other money-seekers: Putin’s war devours everyone indiscriminately, and being a mercenary in the Russian army means becoming expendable in a foreign criminal war.”

The growing number of foreign captives highlights Russia’s increasing dependence on external recruitment as domestic mobilization efforts face issues and the conflict’s casualty toll continues rising after more than three years of warfare.

Exclusives

Ukraine’s corruption fighters survive presidential assault but face ongoing threats. 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.

How Russian drinking culture delayed Ukraine’s biggest Spider Web strike on airbases. The Security Service of Ukraine originally planned the operation for early May, but Russian drivers’ Easter drinking binges forced a delay for a month

So you think Ukraine can just leave Donbas? It’s the shield forged in steel — and paid in blood. The Donbas fortress belt has held for years against Russia’s army. Surrendering it would open the road west.

Ukraine builds resilience as Russia doubles down. The daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities and battlefield dynamics tells a starker story than diplomatic calendars suggest.

The Ukraine war won’t end in Alaska—but Western unity might. Putin gets an American partner against Europe; Trump gets to claim he tried diplomacy.

Military

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.

Frontline report: Ukrainian marines flush out Russians from moldy cellars to save Pokrovsk. Marines fight room to room in a coal village shielding Pokrovsk from an eastern encirclement.

Satellite photos reveal what’s left of Russia’s key oil hub and prized radar in Crimea

. Charred pipeline structures and mangled radar towers tell the story of the recent strikes.

Intelligence and technology

Czech initiative delivers million ammunition rounds to Ukraine in 2025 – Fiala. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala reported that Ukraine has received over one million large-calibre ammunition rounds in 2025 through a Czech-coordinated supply initiative

One million shells in eight months — Czech ammo push for Ukraine reaches milestone as Trump–Putin talks loom. The Czech Prime Minister revealed the figure during a coalition-of-the-willing meeting just days before the Alaska summit.

Berlin commits $ 500 million to Ukraine, sourcing weapons directly from US reserves. The goal is rapid delivery of air defense and other vital gear. NATO says the package will include urgently needed air defense systems.

Russian Feniks recon UAV washed ashore on beach in Bulgaria—it crashed months ago in the Black Sea. Bulgarian Navy specialists blew up the drone wreckage found on the beach.

International

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

Russian territorial claims to Alaska resurface ahead of Trump-Putin summit. Kremlin propagandists leverage the symbolic summit venue choice to fuel territorial fantasies.

ISW: Russia’s pre-Alaska-summit position leaves no path to genuine talks — it just confirmed its peace plan still means Ukraine’s capitulation. Deputy Foreign Ministry official Fadeev’s remarks reveal the Kremlin still wants total capitulation before talks.

Some 42% of Germans favor Ukrainian territorial concessions to end war – poll. As Donald Trump prepares to meet Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Germans remain divided on a key question: should Ukraine trade land for peace to end the grinding war?

Security guarantees without NATO? Trump’s Ukraine plan draws cautious optimism and concern before his Putin summit. Politico sources say the offer lifted some hopes, but leaves glaring holes in how Kyiv would be defended after the war.

European leaders brace for Alaska Trump-Putin meeting after NBC says US President pledged no territorial carve-up without Kyiv’s consent

. NBC reports Trump told Zelenskyy and EU leaders his focus is a Ukraine ceasefire, not border changes.

Humanitarian and social impact

“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.

Russian war crimes: Ukraine has evidence occupiers forcibly deported 15 children from special school to Russia. Children were forbidden to speak Ukrainian or display Ukrainian symbols while being forced to participate in pro-Russian events and sing Russian anthem.

Hydroelectric crisis: Ukraine records smallest water stocks since 2015. Ukraine’s hydroelectric reservoirs have dropped to their lowest levels in a decade following an exceptionally dry spring. By autumn, Ukrhydroenergo promises to accumulate water reserves

Ukraine swapped 84 prisoners with Russia — and got its legendary minesweeper captain back. Among those freed were Mariupol defenders and civilians held for nearly a decade, Zelenskyy said.

Political and legal developments

Reuters: UN warns Russia of responsibility for sexual violence against prisoners of war. Russian forces subjected Ukrainian prisoners of war to electrocution of genitals and prolonged nudity across 72 detention facilities, prompting UN warnings of potential blacklisting

Read our earlier daily review here.

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar has accused Russia of deploying its intelligence services to undermine his campaign against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the Kremlin’s closest ally in the European Union. Bloomberg reports that the Kremlin’s Foreign Intelligence Service released a statement portraying Magyar as an alleged stooge of the European Commission, repeating language Orbán has used to attack him.

Kremlin statement echoes Orbán’s rhetoric

On 13 August, Russia’s spy agency published the accusations from Moscow, aligning closely with Orbán’s campaign narrative, Bloomberg reports. The next day, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó backed the Russian claims, saying the statement contained “nothing new.”

Rising stakes in April’s elections

Magyar’s Tisza Party currently holds double-digit leads in public opinion polls ahead of elections scheduled for April. The race is unfolding against the backdrop of a sluggish economy and persistent allegations of corruption. Bloomberg notes that Moscow’s involvement is expected to further raise the stakes and reopen debate about Hungary’s position within NATO and the EU, which Orbán has challenged over the past decade.

Magyar warns of renewed foreign interference

In a Facebook post, Magyar drew parallels to the Soviet era, recalling the departure of Soviet troops from Hungary in the early 1990s.

“After 34 years, Russia again wants to directly meddle in Hungarian politics, again it wants to unabashedly influence the decision of Hungarian voters,” he wrote.

 

Ukraine’s campaign to erode Russian air power in the Black Sea region has taken a heavy toll on the 43rd Naval Assault Aviation Regiment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Militarnyi reports. The regiment, stationed at the occupied Saky airfield in Crimea, began 2022 with a full squadron of 12 Su-30SM multirole fighters. In the three years since the full-scale invasion began, seven of those aircraft have been destroyed in confirmed incidents, with two more damaged. The unit’s fleet has been reduced to less than half its original strength.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been targeting Russian military aviation with all available means, including cruise missiles, man-portable air-defense systems, other anti-air weapons, sabotage, and long-range drones. The Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula often becomes a target for long-range attacks, where the Ukrainian hit Russian air defense assets, Navy ships, and other military installations and equipment. 

From full squadron to crippled force

According to Militarnyi, the 43rd regiment’s first confirmed Su-30SM loss occurred on 5 March 2022 over Mykolaiv Oblast. Both crew members ejected and were taken prisoner. One of them, Major Oleksii Holovenskyi, was the squadron commander at the time. The other, Captain Aleksei Kozlov, served as the aircraft’s navigator. This loss marked the beginning of a series of blows to the unit.

Just months later, on 9 August 2022, Ukrainian Security and Defense Forces struck the Saky airfield, which had been captured by Russia after 2014 and became home to the regiment under military unit number 59882. The attack destroyed three Su-30SMs outright and damaged another. The same strike also destroyed five Su-24 bombers and damaged three more, inflicting serious damage on the regiment’s overall combat capabilities.

Shoot-downs and unprecedented tactics

The Russian regiment’s losses continued into 2024. On 11 September, Militarnyi reports, Russian forces lost contact with a Su-30SM around 5 a.m. The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) later confirmed that a special operations unit had downed the aircraft using a man-portable air-defense system.

In 2025, Ukraine introduced new tactics that marked a milestone in aerial warfare. On 2 May, working jointly with the Security Service of Ukraine and other defense forces, HUR targeted another Su-30SM in the Black Sea. The aircraft was destroyed by an AIM-9 missile launched from a maritime drone — the first recorded instance in history of a manned aircraft being shot down by such a platform.

The latest confirmed crash near Zmiinyi (Snake) Island

The most recent confirmed loss was reported by the Ukrainian Navy yesterday, on 14 August 2025. According to the Navy, its intelligence service intercepted Russian radio communications revealing the sudden loss of contact with a Su-30SM southeast of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island in the Black Sea. Defense Express reports that the aircraft crashed under still-unclear circumstances while on a combat mission.

Intercepted communications indicated that Russian forces launched a search-and-rescue operation in the area. Ukrainian Navy statements said wreckage had been spotted floating on the sea surface, but there was no confirmed information on the fate of the pilots. Russian rescuers have not reported recovering either crew member.

Damage compounding destruction

Militarnyi notes that in addition to the seven destroyed Su-30SMs, the regiment has suffered damage to two others. One was damaged during the August 2022 strike on Saky airfield, while another was hit on 1 July 2025 by a long-range Ukrainian UJ-26 Bober drone in another attack on the same base.

Overnight on 15 August, drones struck the Rosneft-owned oil refinery in Syzran, Samara Oblast, sparking large fires at the facility. Located about 800 km from the front line, the plant is a major fuel supplier for both civilian needs and Russian military forces. The attack prompted emergency measures, including airspace closures and restrictions on mobile internet access across the region.

Explosions before dawn ignite major blaze

Media reports and social media posts, including videos shared by the Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+, showed multiple fires and heavy smoke rising from the refinery after the strike. Residents said the first explosions occurred around 04:00, with at least ten blasts heard in total. The footage captured several points of fire and dense black smoke billowing over the complex.

Authorities impose emergency plan “Kovyor”

Samara Oblast governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev claimed that Russian forces destroyed 13 drones and did not confirm any damage to the facility. He announced that the “Kovyor” emergency plan had been activated, grounding aircraft and closing airspace, and that mobile internet restrictions were in place “for public safety.” Residents, however, reported ongoing fires at the refinery.

Strategic fuel hub hit again

The Syzran refinery processes about 8.9 million tons of crude oil annually, producing gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and bitumen. It supplies fuel to Samara, Saratov, and Penza oblasts, parts of central Russia, as well as airfields and military units of the Central and Southern Military Districts. Damaging the facility disrupts fuel deliveries to Russian occupation forces.

The plant has been attacked before. Ukrainian drones also struck it in February and March this year, causing fires then as well.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) delivered record results in the first half of 2025: 370 new investigations, 115 suspects charged, and 62 convictions — wartime performance that exceeded even their substantial late-2024 numbers. This week, they announced charges against a senior Defense Ministry official accused of soliciting $1.3 million in bribes to rig military housing contracts.

Yet simultaneously, a parliamentary commission has begun examining their work, a timing that raises questions about the government’s true intentions.

The question isn’t whether NABU and SAPO can function — they clearly can — but whether they can work undisturbed when the same political forces that tried to subordinate them in July remain in power, wielding the same administrative tools that could disrupt sensitive investigations.

July’s warning shot

The agencies formally regained their independence on 31 July after mass protests forced parliament to reverse controversial Law 12414. But the nine-day subordination to the Prosecutor General wasn’t an isolated misstep — it was the culmination of pressure that had been building since NABU charged former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, a member of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner circle.

What made July different wasn’t just the attempt to strip institutional independence. It was how quickly UAH 120 million ($2.9 million) appeared for Chernyshov’s bail, and how rapidly 70 raids materialized against NABU officials when the agencies refused to back down.

The speed of that bailout also raised uncomfortable questions in Brussels, where officials watching Ukraine’s EU accession bid wondered how deep corruption networks run.

Since then, nothing fundamental has changed.

The same officials who designed Law 12414 remain in office. The same networks that mobilized Chernyshov’s bail remain intact. And crucially, parliament left three dangerous provisions that weaken the broader prosecutorial system.

The tools that remain

While NABU and SAPO regained their statutory independence, the government retained legal mechanisms that could still disrupt their work:

• No competitive selection for prosecutors during martial law: Anyone with basic legal credentials can be appointed to senior positions without open competition, potentially placing loyalists in overlapping jurisdictions.
  
• Dismissal through “reorganization”: Prosecutors can be fired by dissolving or restructuring their units, bypassing routine disciplinary procedures.
  
• Sweeping case control for the Prosecutor General: The Prosecutor General can requisition any case, halt proceedings, and give direct instructions to investigators.

The government can’t longer directly control NABU and SAPO, but it can create pressure points. Many high-profile corruption cases involve multiple jurisdictions. The Prosecutor General can, for example, influence sensitive investigations without formally touching the agencies’ autonomy by controlling appointments, reassigning personnel, or pulling case materials.

As the Agency for Legislative Initiative warned, the ability to appoint prosecutors without competition “undermines selection standards, contradicts the principle of prosecutorial independence, and creates risks for the legitimacy of personnel decisions.”

Why Western allies are watching

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are meeting today in Anchorage, Alaska, triggering protests across multiple continents as activists warn against territorial concessions that could reward Russian aggression.

The bilateral summit—Putin’s first visit to US soil in nearly a decade—deliberately excludes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite the war being the primary agenda item. Trump has indicated any peace deal will involve “some swapping of territories,” prompting fears of a repeat of 1938’s Munich Agreement.

Global demonstrations reject Ukraine sellout

From Helsinki to Sydney, protesters gathered under banners reading “DON’T SELL OUT UKRAINE” as the Alaska meeting commenced. Finnish demonstrators in Helsinki highlighted the parallels to previous failed appeasement attempts, while crowds in Prague carried signs explicitly referencing “no new Munich.”

“Ahead of the US president’s meeting with war criminal Putin, we call for no new Munichs,” said Vlada Dumenko of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV). “Any future peace agreement must comply with international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the prohibition of changing borders by force.”

The protests span continents, with demonstrations reported in:

• Helsinki, Finland
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Warsaw, Poland
• Munich, Germany
• Stuttgart, Germany
• Oslo, Norway
• Sydney, Australia

Stakes of the Alaska meeting

Today’s summit represents Trump’s most significant diplomatic gamble since taking office, coming after his August 8 deadline for Putin to agree to a ceasefire passed without Russian compliance. Instead of imposing the threatened “secondary sanctions,” Trump opted for direct talks in Alaska—a location that Kremlin officials called “quite logical” given its proximity to Russia.

Trump has described the meeting as a “feel-out” session to gauge Putin’s willingness to negotiate, but has already signaled openness to territorial exchanges. “We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories,” Trump told reporters.

European leaders issued a joint statement over the weekend insisting “the path in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,” signed by officials from the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland, and the European Commission.

Ukrainian officials warn against concessions

Ukrainian activists fear the bilateral format gives Putin leverage to push for territorial gains while sidelining Ukrainian input. Any territorial concessions would violate Ukraine’s constitution and require parliamentary approval or a national referendum.

“Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” emphasized Hanna Hopko, chair of the National Interests Advocacy Network ANTS. “If the West is unable to counter this growing threat, it will forfeit its position at the heart of the international security architecture and be replaced by the rising authoritarian powers.”

Hopko argued that rather than territorial concessions, the West already possesses the tools to defeat Russia: “With America providing weapons, Europe holding the $190 billion in frozen Russian sovereign assets, and Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web—we already have the tools to defeat Russia and end this war. What’s needed now is the courage to use them.”

Historical parallels fuel opposition

The 1938 Munich Agreement, where Western leaders allowed Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia in exchange for promises of peace, has become a rallying cry for protesters opposing any Ukrainian territorial concessions to Russia.

“Any retreat from Donetsk or Luhansk is not compromise—it is a strategic disaster,” protesters in Prague declared. “It would give Russia a permanent launching pad for future attacks, just as the 1938 Munich Agreement gave Hitler the green light to devour Europe.”

The Ukraine war, now in its fourth year since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, has evolved into what officials describe as a broader contest between democratic and authoritarian powers, with North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces and Iranian drones striking Ukrainian cities.

What happens next

White House officials describe today’s meeting as exploratory, with Trump stating he will know “probably in the first two minutes” whether a deal is possible. The president has indicated that successful talks could lead to a follow-up trilateral meeting including Zelenskyy.

However, Putin has shown little willingness to make genuine concessions. Russian forces continue their advance in eastern Ukraine, and Moscow failed to attend previous peace talks in Türkiye despite Ukrainian participation.

As one protester’s sign in Helsinki read: “Today’s leaders must remember that history judges not just intentions, but consequences.”

The summit in Anchorage is expected to conclude this evening, with both leaders potentially making public statements about next steps.

 

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO or SOF) struck Russia’s Olya port in Astrakhan Oblast on 14 August, targeting a vessel reportedly carrying Iranian Shahed drone parts and ammunition. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the attack was part of efforts to weaken Russia’s ability to carry out airstrikes. Results of the strike are still being assessed.

Ukrainian strike targets Russian military shipments from Iran

According to the General Staff, the Olya port facility is used by Russia as an important logistics hub for receiving military goods from Iran.

The targeted vessel, identified as Port Olya 4, was reportedly loaded with Shahed-type drone components and ammunition.

The operation was conducted by Ukraine’s SOF in cooperation with other branches of the Defense Forces. The military said the goal was to disrupt Russian logistics and degrade its capacity for sustained aerial attacks.

Special forces operation, not long-range drone strike

No visual evidence from the area has yet emerged, and Euromaidan Press said it could not independently verify the report.

Authorities in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast have expanded the mandatory evacuation zone for families with children, adding five new settlements due to intensifying Russian attacks. The decision was announced by Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration (RMA), on 14 August.

Why Druzhkivka matters

Druzhkivka, an industrial city of strategic importance, lies about 80 km northeast of Donetsk City and has remained under Ukrainian control since 2014. Once home to nearly 54,000 residents, its population has dropped sharply due to displacement. Its position along key transport routes makes it a vital defensive and logistical hub.

The new mandate covers Druzhkivka, Andriivka, Varvarivka, Novoandriivka, and Rohanske in the Andriivka community, where about 1,879 children currently live.

Escalating threats and governor’s warning

The evacuation decision followed a meeting of the regional commission on technogenic and environmental safety and emergency situations. Filashkin cited relentless Russian shelling—around 3,000 strikes daily—and urged parents to act:

“Take care of your loved ones — your children. Evacuate in time. Evacuate while it is still possible. Protect your loved ones and do not put them in danger.”

Children will be evacuated only with parents or legal guardians, using a coordinated process involving regional authorities, law enforcement, and local administrations.

Russian breakthrough near Pokrovsk raises alarm

Recent battlefield developments have amplified the urgency. Russian forces achieved a narrow but significant breakthrough north of Pokrovsk, advancing up to 17 km and seizing positions threatening Ukrainian supply lines. Another push near Dobropillia reached the Dobropillia–Kramatorsk highway, a key route for military logistics.

While Ukrainian commanders report stabilizing the front with reinforcements, analysts warn these advances could shift the strategic balance and increase risks for nearby civilian areas, including Druzhkivka.

Background on evacuations in Donetsk

Mandatory evacuations began in March 2023 in Bakhmut during heavy fighting. Since then, similar operations have taken place in Kryvorizka, Dobropilska, Druzhkivska, Lymanska, and Bilozerska communities as the front line has approached.

When Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska this Friday, the headlines will focus on the show: a US president hosting the Russian leader in a state once sold by the Russian Empire, with Ukraine’s fate hanging in the balance. But what’s invisible to many is a fundamental problem. The two men are not even negotiating the same war.

Trump and his advisers frame the war as a territorial dispute.

In Trump’s mind, ending the war is a matter of finding the right chunk of land to trade, a deal that can be signed quickly, sold to voters, and wrapped up before the next election cycle.

Putin’s view is entirely different. For him, this war is not about lines on a map. It is about the structure of Europe’s security order. His core demand, repeated for more than a decade, is a legally binding halt to NATO expansion, not just for Ukraine, but as a principle. That means rewriting the post–Cold War rules so that Moscow has a permanent veto over the alliances its neighbors may join.

But Putin’s demands go far beyond strategic reordering. According to Russian officials, Moscow seeks Ukraine’s complete “demilitarization,” “denazification”—Putin’s euphemism for regime change—and permanent “neutrality” barring any Western security guarantees.

Russia also wants all sanctions lifted and NATO forces rolled back from Eastern Europe entirely.

In other words, Putin is not negotiating over Ukrainian territory. He is negotiating over whether Ukraine will continue to exist as an independent state.

• Trump is playing a game of Monopoly;
• Putin is erasing countries from the map.

What Ukraine cannot accept

This fundamental mismatch leaves Ukraine in an impossible position. Trump is willing to trade away frozen conflict lines, delayed NATO membership, and limited sanctions relief. But Ukraine needs what Putin refuses to give: genuine security guarantees, territorial integrity, and the sovereign right to choose its own alliances.

These are not positions Ukraine can compromise on—they are requirements for survival as an independent nation. Yet they are precisely what Trump’s deal-making approach treats as negotiable.

History’s warnings

There is no shortage of historical warnings about what happens when talks are built on such mismatches. Land swaps have been tried before as a way to paper over deeper disputes.

• Kosovo and Serbia explored trading territory to normalize relations; it collapsed under nationalist backlash.
• Serbia and Croatia’s postwar boundary negotiations left core tensions untouched, producing only fragile arrangements.
• Estonia and Russia agreed to a border treaty in 2005; Moscow withdrew when Estonia joined NATO.

In each case, the failure came from mistaking a strategic conflict for a cartographic one.

Negotiating with shadows

There is a deeper risk that analysts have largely overlooked: Trump is negotiating with his own misunderstanding of Putin’s objectives. Because he believes the dispute can be solved by trading territory, he will interpret any territorial discussion as progress.

Putin, meanwhile, will see territorial concessions only as a means to secure the larger prize of a rewritten security order.

This misunderstanding becomes Putin’s greatest asset. Russian analysts describe Trump’s dealmaking approach as a “can’t-lose proposition” for Moscow. Putin can appear reasonable and open to compromise while presenting terms designed to eliminate Ukrainian independence.

Even if Trump rejects specific demands, Putin achieves his goal of being treated as Ukraine’s equal in determining the country’s future.

Trump and Putin will leave Alaska believing they have moved closer to a deal, but they will be moving along two separate tracks that never meet.

• Trump will think he has made progress toward a territorial settlement;
• Putin will have advanced his goal of erasing Ukraine as a sovereign state.

Asymmetry in preparation

If this were merely a matter of clashing goals, careful preparation could at least surface the differences and test for overlap. But here too, the asymmetry is visible. Putin arrives in Alaska with a tightly controlled plan, informed by months of private discussions with his closest advisers, and with clear red lines. Trump arrives without a detailed framework.

Successful summits rarely happen spontaneously.

• Camp David in 1978 followed 13 days of intense, private negotiation and years of backchannel talks.
• The 1986 Reykjavik meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev, itself considered a failure at the time, was built on months of arms control groundwork.

Alaska has none of this. The meeting was triggered by a visit from Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer turned envoy, who came back from Moscow with little more than a handshake agreement to meet.

That imbalance gives Putin the advantage. He can use the summit to appear open and constructive while presenting terms designed to lock in strategic gains.

Even if Trump refuses those terms, Putin will have succeeded in demonstrating to his domestic audience, and to wavering countries in the Global South, that Russia is negotiating directly with Washington, sidelining Kyiv.

A timeline mismatch

Time itself favors Putin. Trump is thinking in months, hoping for a quick foreign policy win before the 2026 midterms.

Putin thinks in decades. His inner circle, according to Russian sources, has told him that Ukrainian resistance will collapse within months if Russia maintains military pressure.

• For Putin, a pause is not a compromise. It is a tactical stage in a longer campaign.
• For Trump, a pause can be sold as peace.

This is why a meeting that produces no concrete concessions from Moscow can still be useful to both men, but deeply damaging to Ukraine.

The real danger of Alaska is not that it produces a signed surrender. The danger is that it produces the illusion of progress.

The symbolism problem

Then there is Alaska itself. Meeting on American soil might seem like a show of strength from Trump, but to Putin, it means something else. Alaska was once Russian territory. Hosting the summit there sends an unintended message: that borders are temporary and land can be transferred through negotiation. In a war where Russia’s central claim is that borders can be rewritten by force, this is a gift.

Diplomats understand the power of location. In 2010, Serbia and Kosovo’s EU-sponsored talks were held in Brussels precisely to avoid symbolic claims to sovereignty. Choosing Alaska to discuss Ukraine’s future undermines the very principle the US claims to defend: that states have the right to keep their internationally recognized borders.

The real danger of Alaska is not that it produces a signed surrender. The danger is that it produces the illusion of progress.

Trump could emerge declaring the talks a first step toward peace, while Putin uses the meeting to reinforce his narrative: that Washington, not Kyiv, is the true counterparty in this war, and that Russia’s demands are the baseline for any serious negotiation.

What success would require

Could Alaska succeed? Only if both leaders arrived with a shared understanding of the core dispute, a set of pre-negotiated principles, and Ukraine’s active participation.

None of those conditions exist.

Without them, the meeting is not a step toward resolution but a set piece in two domestic political dramas: Trump’s need to appear as the great dealmaker, and Putin’s need to appear as the indispensable architect of Europe’s future.

But the stakes are higher than political theater. Trump’s misunderstanding could lead him to pressure Ukraine into accepting a “peace” that eliminates its independence while allowing Putin to claim he negotiated rather than conquered.

That is why the Alaska summit may be remembered not as a turning point toward peace, but as the moment when the West negotiated away a democracy’s right to exist.

A Russian Su-30SM multirole fighter jet has likely crashed in the Black Sea southeast of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island (Odesa Oblast), according to the Ukrainian Navy.

Naval intelligence intercepted radio communications indicating the loss of contact with the aircraft during a mission. The cause of the incident remains unknown.

Russian forces have launched a search-and-rescue operation; debris has been spotted on the sea surface, but the pilot has not been found.

Why this loss matters for Russia’s air force

The Su-30SM is one of the Russian military’s most capable 4th-generation fighters, used for air superiority, long-range patrols, escort missions, radar surveillance, and command-and-control.

FlightGlobal’s 2025 world air forces directory lists 365 Su-27/30/35 fighters in Russian service (exact Su-30SM numbers are not public). Each Su-30SM is estimated to cost between $35 million and $50 million, making every loss a major hit to Russia’s high-value combat fleet.

The aircraft has been used extensively in the war against Ukraine, including for the launch of Kh-31P and Kh-58 anti-radiation missiles aimed at suppressing Ukrainian air defenses.

Documented Su-30SM losses since 2022

Ukraine has reported multiple Su-30SM shootdowns and ground destructions since the full-scale invasion began:

• Feb–Mar 2022: Several Su-30SMs downed over the Black Sea, Odesa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv regions — some crashed into the sea, and in one case a pilot was captured.
• Aug 9, 2022 — Saky/Novofedorivka, Crimea: Satellite imagery confirmed 8–9 aircraft destroyed, including around three Su-30SMs.
• Sept 2024 — Black Sea: Ukraine reported downing a Su-30SM that had just fired a Kh-31P missile.
• Apr 24, 2025 — Rostov-on-Don: Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) released video showing a Su-30SM (tail “35”) burning after a sabotage attack.
• Aug 4, 2025 — Saky airbase, Crimea: The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said one Su-30SM was destroyed and another damaged, alongside strikes on Su-24s and an ammunition depot.
• May 2, 2025 — Novorossiysk (claim): Ukraine claims naval drones armed with air-to-air missiles downed two Su-30s over the Black Sea — independent verification is pending.
• Aug 14, 2025 — Zmiinyi (Snake) Island area: The latest suspected Su-30SM loss.

Strategic шmplications

The possible downing of another Su-30SM underscores Ukraine’s ability to inflict attrition on Russia’s front-line combat aviation. With high unit costs and a shrinking pool of trained aircrews, each loss erodes Russia’s air combat capability — particularly in contested zones like the Black Sea.

The upcoming summit between US President Trump and Russian President Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, has reignited Russian imperial rhetoric precisely as Moscow seeks to demonstrate its global reach while pressuring Ukraine to cede territory. 

The summit venue has brought renewed attention to longstanding Russian territorial claims, with statements resurfacing in which Russian state and media figures suggest the US state belongs to Moscow ahead of Friday’s meeting.

Russian state media propagandists have already arrived in Alaska to make a news report saying that the American state has "more than 700 toponyms with Russian roots."

Propagandists keep making hints about taking Alaska back. https://t.co/UtPsboCliP pic.twitter.com/loqjHZJTWN

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 11, 2025

Russian officials have a history of territorial claims

State television propagandist Olga Skabeyeva has referred to the state as “our Alaska” during broadcasts in 2024. The same year, Deputy Security Council Chair Dmitry Medvedev joked on social media about going to war with the US over the territory.

Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev described Alaska as “an American of Russian origin” during recent summit discussions. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin previously warned that Moscow would lay claim to the state if Washington froze Russian assets abroad.

In 2022, Billboards reading “Alaska Is Ours!” appeared in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia.

Some of the historic Russian orthodox churches in Alaska. pic.twitter.com/E4wcgG3mdU

— Kirill A. Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) August 9, 2025

Alaska, the former Russian colony

Alaska was colonized by Russia from 1799 to 1867, and was administered by about 700 Russians across a territory larger than Texas. Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million following Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War. Nearly all Russian settlers left after the purchase, though Russian Orthodox churches remain throughout the state.

The state’s closest point lies just 3.8 kilometers from Russia across the Bering Strait, between Little Diomede Island (US) and Big Diomede Island (Russia). There are 89 kilometers between the mainlands of the two countries. 

Trump-Putin summit

Trump and Putin will meet Friday in Anchorage to discuss ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump has indicated he expects “some land-swapping” in any potential deal, while Putin demands Ukraine abandon NATO aspirations and recognize Russian territorial conquests.

In the press conference about the summit on 11 August, President Trump appeared to slip up, referring to the meeting location as “Russia”. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not initially invited to the summit, though the White House is considering extending an invitation.

The summit will reportedly include discussions of a potential minerals deal, with Trump expected to present resource partnership proposals to Putin during the meeting, according to The Telegraph.

Today, there are important updates from the Pokrovsk direction. Here, on the eastern flank, the Russian forces conducted a massive push to cut off Ukrainian supply lines to Pokrovsk and starve out the defenders. However, Russians quickly got stuck in fortifications that guard the back of the Ukrainian defense line, with intense close-quarters battles breaking out.

Russia shifts focus to encircle Pokrovsk from the east

In the latest adjustment of their summer offensive, Russian forces are now concentrating their efforts on encircling Pokrovsk from the east. Despite being initially promising, the failed encirclement efforts from the west and unsuccessful infiltration attempts from the south were both successfully pushed back by Ukrainian defenders.

Ukrainians stall momentum but face new pressure on the eastern flank

Ukrainians improved their tactical standing, stalling further enemy momentum, which changed Russia’s strategy toward targeting logistics on the western flank. However, the same cannot be said for the eastern flank. After making headway there, Russian forces rapidly shifted their focus to this sector, capitalizing on their momentum to push deeper and reach the strategically vital settlement of Rodynske.

Rodynske emerges as a strategic target

Their objective is now clear: cut supply lines, threaten Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad from behind, and force the Ukrainian defense into a semi-encircled position. Rodynske has emerged as a focal point in Russia’s operational plan due to its position directly behind Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, which allows it to serve as a logistical and tactical keystone for both towns. Capturing it would open a dangerous axis of advance from the rear, collapsing supply routes and placing additional pressure on Ukrainian units holding the line.

Russian reinforcements and urban warfare in Rodynske

Recognizing this, Russian commanders are pouring reinforcements into the area, prioritizing the capture of the dense urban environment of Rodynske, which would offer both protection for troop concentrations and ideal conditions for the launch of drone operations. If secured, Russian drone teams positioned in Rodynske could launch strikes with ease across a 15 to 25 kilometer radius, hitting key Ukrainian staging areas and logistical hubs.

Threat to Hryshyne and high ground control

If we look at the topographic map, we can see that the immediate threat could easily extend west toward Hryshyne, which sits in a lowland and would be vulnerable to attack. Additionally, this would allow the Russians to gain access to the same high ground that Pokrovsk is sitting on and would open up attack routes directly from behind.

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Fierce battles on the eastern approaches

For now, however, the main Russian effort remains squarely focused on breaking Ukrainian resistance in Rodynske. The fierce battle for the settlement has already begun, with high-intensity engagements playing out on its eastern approaches. Geolocated combat footage paints a clear picture of the fighting, as in one clip, a Ukrainian marine fires an AT-4 grenade launcher at point-blank range into an underground cellar where Russian soldiers had holed up in. After the explosion had opened up the underground area, a Vampire hexacopter was then able to drop a heavy mine from above, obliterating the Russian position.

Drone strikes and close-quarters combat

Elsewhere, the Starfall unit of the 14th Operational Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard is shown operating east of Rodynske, targeting Russian troops hiding near a mine with drone-dropped explosives to stop their advance.

More particularly brutal GoPro footage captures two Ukrainian soldiers responding to signs of an enemy presence. Calm and calculated, they discover two Russian assault troops hiding in a cellar. Speaking fluent Russian, the Ukrainians momentarily confuse the intruders before eliminating them with grenades tossed inside. The same team later clears a nearby house, eliminates the Russian soldiers inside, and seizes a captured assault rifle.

Pokrovsk remains the hottest frontline sector

Overall, Pokrovsk remains the hottest section of the frontline and the focal point of Russia’s summer campaign. The Russians are determined to establish a foothold in the paved neighborhoods before the fall rains make any approach on soft ground impossible, and their pivot to the east has already yielded dangerous momentum.

Rodynske’s defense could decide the fate of Pokrovsk

Yet this shift is now being met with fierce Ukrainian resistance centered on Rodynske, quickly growing to be of extreme importance. Its defense is about protecting the entire Pokrovsk–Myrnohrad sector from collapse, as if Rodynske falls, the door to encirclement opens. For now, however, Ukrainian forces are holding, fighting from house to house, and striking back with every tool available. The battle is far from over, but the outcome in Rodynske may well decide the fate of Pokrovsk.

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.

Ukrainian reinforcements are rushing to the Pokrovsk area in an urgent effort to defeat a Russian infiltration that threatens one of two main supply roads into the besieged city in Donetsk Oblast.

The reinforcements include one of Ukraine’s new multi-brigade corps—and at least one Leopard 1A5 tank.

The Ukrainian army’s 508th Separate Repair and Restoration Battalion—which retrieves, repairs and returns armored vehicles—loaded one of the 40-ton, four-person Leopard 1A5 tanks onto a heavy transport truck and hauled the tank into the Pokrovsk sector under the cover of darkness on Wednesday.

“We’ve been a little quiet the last few days,” the battalion stated on social media, “but another Leopard 1A5 with full ammunition … is successfully delivered to one of the hottest places [in the] Pokrovsk direction.”

It’s obvious where the German-made tank wound up: somewhere along the roughly 10-km front stretching from Rodynske in the south to Nove Shakhove in the north. That front, just northeast of Pokrovsk, is the current locus of the fighting after Russian troops slipped past under-manned—or entirely empty—Ukrainian trenches last week and hooked left to threaten Dobropillya, which sits astride the T0515 road threading into Pokrovsk.

Two of the seven Ukrainian brigades that operate the 1980s-vintage—but heavily upgraded and up-armored—Leopard 1A5s are holding the line around Dobropillya: the national guard’s 4th Rubizh Brigade and the army’s 142nd Mechanized Brigade.

Each brigade probably owns a dozen Leopard 1A5s out of 170 that a German-Dutch-Danish consortium has pledged to Ukraine. Around 100 of the tanks have shipped; the Russians have knocked out at least 14 of them. Others have been damaged.

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Repaired tank

It’s likely the Leopard 1A5 the 508th Separate Repair and Restoration Battalion sneaked into the Pokrovsk area was a damaged tank that the battalion fetched from the front line and fixed up at its workshop before hauling it back to its operator.

After losing around 4,000 tanks in action in the first 42 months of its wider war on Ukraine, Russia has all but ceased deploying heavy armor along the 1,100-km front line. Production of new T-90M tanks, and the restoration of old Cold War T-72s moldering in long-term storage, simply can’t make good all those losses.

Today, the Russians mostly attack on foot or on motorcycles, counting on these hard-to-spot and fast-moving forces to slip through thinly manned Ukrainian trenches and past Ukraine’s ever-present drones. The Ukrainians still use tanks, however, fearlessly rolling the hulking vehicles from their drone-proof dugouts for close fights with infiltrating Russians.

It’s not for no reason that, last month, Ukraine lost more tanks in action than Russia did—a first in this wider war.

Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky insisted the Russian infiltrators threatening Dobropillya marched north and then turned west “only with weapons in their hands.” They’re lightly armed and poorly supplied, potentially making them easy targets for tanks. Assuming, of course, the tanks can shrug off any Russian drones patrolling the Russian salient northeast of Pokrovsk.

There’s a good reason for the Ukrainian tankers to be optimistic. The Leopard 1A5 and Leopard 2A4 tanks that are helping to defend the Pokrovsk sector have proved that, with enough add-on armor, they can survive repeated drone strikes—and keep fighting.

Ukraine’s Security Service head just explained exactly how Ukraine had smuggled attack drones into Russia and hit four military bases simultaneously in their most audacious operation yet.

The 1 June mission—codenamed “Spider Web”— hit 31 and destroyed 21 Russian aircraft worth over $7 billion. That’s roughly a third of Russia’s cruise missile carriers wiped out in a single coordinated strike.

But the real story isn’t the destruction. It’s how Ukrainian intelligence spent 18 months building a fake logistics company inside Russia to pull it off.

Ukrainian spies rent office space next to enemy headquarters

SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk revealed the operation’s mechanics in a recent interview. His agents didn’t just sneak across the border—they set up shop in Chelyabinsk, renting offices and warehouses practically next door to the local FSB headquarters.

Why Chelyabinsk? The industrial city over 2000 km from the front line provided perfect cover for a logistics operation. The Ukrainians bought five cargo trucks, hired Russian drivers, and started moving equipment.

The weapon? What Maliuk calls “hunting lodges”—wooden structures mounted on truck beds, equipped with solar panels and EcoFlow batteries to continuously power concealed drones. Russian customs saw camping gear. Inside were 117 combat drones waiting to strike.

Russians drinking vodka delayed a covert op

The original plan called for a May strike. What went wrong? Russian drinking culture.

“We planned to do this before May 9, but they went on a drinking binge during Easter,” Maliuk explained.

The Ukrainian handlers couldn’t reach their Russian drivers for weeks. “One driver was missing, then another. Then May 1st—their May holidays—and they’re lying around for a week.”

The operation lost an entire month to spring festivities.

The moment everything almost collapsed

Picture this: Ukrainian agents preparing their weaponized hunting lodges when someone accidentally hits the wrong button. The roof opens. A 63-year-old Russian truck driver sees rows of military drones lined up for combat.

Panic. The field agents called headquarters immediately. “We have an emergency situation. What are we going to do?”

Malyuk’s solution? Instant cover story. Tell the driver these are wildlife surveillance drones used to track animal populations and catch poachers. The 63-year-old knew nothing about modern technology. He bought it. A bonus payment helped seal the deal.

The Russian drivers who transported the drones never knew what they were carrying. They’re now in Russian detention centers, according to Maliuk, facing torture for crimes they didn’t know they were committing.

“In reality, they did nothing illegal and there was no intent in their actions,” he said. “We paid them very generously.”

All Ukrainian operatives who organized the mission have been evacuated from Russia with new identities.

Ukraine hit Russian bombers that attack civilians

The targets weren’t random. These aircraft form part of Russia’s nuclear triad—the bombers that have been launching cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities and infrastructure throughout the war.

The strike hit A-50 early warning aircraft and Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and Tu-160 strategic bombers across four bases: Belaya, Dyagilevo, Olenya, and Ivanovo. The operation required coordination across three time zones.

At the predetermined moment, the hunting lodge roofs opened remotely. The drones emerged and flew to their targets.

Lessons from drug cartels

How did Ukrainian intelligence learn to smuggle military equipment past Russian customs? They studied international drug cartels, Maliuk said in the interview.

Russian customs corruption made the mission possible, he believes. His agents had to navigate what he called “seven circles of hell” due to international sanctions, but corrupt officials provided the opening they needed.

Maliuk also noted the parallels between this operation and the 2022 Crimean Bridge attack, where Ukraine used a truck loaded with 21 tons of explosives.

“If you read between the lines and look professionally, I think many noticed certain parallels.”

Fresh satellite images have confirmed extensive damage to Russia’s Unecha oil pumping station in Bryansk Oblast and the Skala-M radar complex in occupied Crimea. The confirmation follows earlier reports of Ukrainian strikes on both facilities.

Satellite proof of Unecha oil pumping station destruction

Militarnyi reports that Dnipro Osint published satellite images showing burn scars and destroyed infrastructure at the Unecha oil pumping station in Bryansk oblast. The facility is part of the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude to European countries. According to the images, the damage is concentrated near the booster pump station, where a large fire left the site unable to operate.

Two days ago, local residents reported that Ukrainian strike drones targeted the station on 12 August at around 22:00.

Unecha is located in the settlement of Vysokoye, about 60 km from the Ukrainian border, making it vulnerable to Ukrainian long-range strikes.

Satellite images confirm destruction of Skala-M radar in Crimea

Dnipro Osint also released a satellite photo showing the Russian TRLK-10 Skala-M radar complex in Abrykosivka, occupied Crimea, before and after it was hit. The strike reportedly happened overnight on 9–10 August and was carried out by Ukrainian Special Operations Forces working with local resistance. The agency did not specify, what weapons were used to hit the facility.

The Skala-M is a Soviet-Russian stationary route radar system with both primary and secondary detection capabilities, used for monitoring air traffic on routes and in approach zones. Its operational range reaches 350 km, making it a key element in Russia’s air traffic control network over Crimea. The new images show the radar system visibly damaged.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has placed Israel and Russia “on notice” that they could be listed next year among parties “credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence,” according to his annual report to the Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence obtained by Reuters.

The warning stems from “significant concerns regarding patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented by the United Nations,” Guterres wrote in the report released.

Regarding Russian forces, Guterres said he was “gravely concerned about credible information of violations by Russian armed and security forces and affiliated armed groups” primarily against Ukrainian prisoners of war in 50 official and 22 unofficial detention facilities across Ukraine and Russia.

“These cases comprised a significant number of documented incidents of genital violence, including electrocution, beatings and burns to the genitals, and forced stripping and prolonged nudity, used to humiliate and elicit confessions or information,” the Secretary-General said.

The report notes that Russian authorities have not engaged with Guterres’ special envoy on sexual violence in conflict since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Israel faces similar scrutiny over documented violations in Palestinian detention facilities. Guterres expressed grave concern about “credible information of violations by Israeli armed and security forces” against Palestinians in several prisons, a detention center and a military base.

“Cases documented by the United Nations indicate patterns of sexual violence such as genital violence, prolonged forced nudity and repeated strip searches conducted in an abusive and degrading manner,” the report states.

Russia’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the report.

Ukrainian prosecutors have concluded their investigation into the forced deportation of children from an occupied special school, gathering evidence that will be used in both domestic and international legal proceedings.

Fifteen children from the Novopetrivka special school in southern Mykolaiv Oblast were tracked, seized, and shipped to Russia through a carefully orchestrated route across occupied territories, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The children included ten without parental care, two orphans, two placed due to difficult circumstances, and one girl who had been adopted by US citizens but remained at the school when the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Ukraine concluded a war crimes investigation proving Russia deported 15 children from a special school and subjected them to forced cultural conversion — Prosecutor's Office.

The children were forced to sing Russia's anthem, attend pro-Russian events, and were banned from… pic.twitter.com/A2xjknbiMY

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) August 14, 2025

Russian soldiers storms the school, forcibly remove kids

Russian soldiers weren’t subtle. From day one of occupying Novopetrivka village, they showed up at the school. Regular visits. Head counts. Making sure every child stayed put.

The school director watched this pattern for months. July 2022 rolled around, and she’d seen enough. Time to get these kids out—quietly move them to Ukrainian-controlled territory where they’d be safe.

Someone talked.

Armed Russians stormed the school. They grilled the director. What was she planning? Where were the children going? Then they posted guards. No one leaves.

Twenty soldiers arrived the next morning. Children, director, her husband—everyone loaded up. Destination: Stepanivka village, deep in occupied Kherson Oblast nearby. Three months of waiting. For what?

Two collaborators threatened violence to organize the children’s transport through a complex route: from Stepanivka to occupied Crimea and then to Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar Oblast.

Ukrainian children are forced into cultural conversion

Ukrainian investigators asked the obvious question. Did these children need evacuation?

No medical emergencies. No additional health screening required. The school had a functioning bomb shelter, food stocks, medicine, hygiene supplies. The village remained stable throughout.

So why move them?

The Prosecutor General’s Office reported that the children faced daily ideological pressure, including forced participation in singing Russia’s anthem, attending pro-Russian events, prohibition of Ukrainian language use, and bans on Ukrainian symbols. Fifteen children became test subjects in forced cultural conversion.

Russia also incorporates thousands of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories into its military-patriotic youth movement called Yunarmia (Youth Army). This youth army, under the Russian Ministry of Defense, teaches children military skills like assembling assault rifles and marching, as well as propagates anti-European sentiments and portrays Ukraine as the enemy.

The militarization and assimilation efforts by Russia are likened to historical fascist youth indoctrination, with the aim of creating obedient future soldiers for the Russian regime. Ukrainian authorities and international observers have condemned these practices as war crimes and acts of genocide against Ukrainian identity and society.

Ukraine documents systematic Russian war crimes

The charges qualify the actions as war crimes under international humanitarian law, specifically citing violations of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding forcible displacement of civilians from occupied territory. 

The children? All rescued through coordinated efforts between Ukrainian law enforcement, international partners, and volunteer networks. Every single one now lives safely abroad. The adopted girl reunited with her American family.

Ukraine’s hydroelectric reservoirs managed by Ukrhydroenergo have reached their lowest water levels in a decade due to poor spring flooding this year, the company’s press service reports.

The state enterprise faces a dual challenge as it not only generates electricity but also ensures water supply to consumers across the country. This requires maintaining stable water levels, which currently stand significantly lower than last year’s figures, according to Ukrhydroenergo.

“We are doing everything possible to accumulate sufficient reserves by autumn,” the company reported. To achieve this goal, water will be used “as rationally as possible” while preparing hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) and pumped-storage power plants (PSPPs) for the winter season.

The company is simultaneously conducting reconstruction work and scheduled repairs of its hydroelectric facilities while restoring and protecting its infrastructure from ongoing damage.

“For hydropower specialists, this is a unique experience ofconducting all these measures and implementing projects simultaneously,” Ukrhydroenergo wrote.

The water shortage coincides with broader energy storage challenges facing Ukraine. As of 5 August, the country had accumulated over 10 billion cubic meters of gas in underground storage facilities, marking the lowest reserves in at least 12 years