Trump says deal would come at trilateral summit – DW – 08/14/2025

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that any deals on ending the conflict between Ukraine and Russia will need to come after his Alaska summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to Fox News Radio one day ahead of the anticipated summit, the US president said a second meeting would also be attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal,” Trump said. “And I don’t want to use the word ‘divvy’ things up. But you know, to a certain extent, it’s not a bad term, okay?”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed that while the Alaska summit might succeed in bringing a halt to the fighting in Ukraine, a long-term resolution to the war will need more time.

“To achieve a peace, I think we all recognize that there’ll have to be some conversation about security guarantees. There’ll have to be some conversation about … territorial disputes and claims, and what they’re fighting over,” Rubio told reporters at the State Department.

The US top diplomat added that Trump hoped “to achieve some stoppage of fighting so that those conversations can happen.”

US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Thursday he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would make a deal.

“This meeting sets up the second meeting, but there is a 25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting,” Trump told Fox News Radio.

The US president said he suspected Moscow sought a meeting due to threats of additional US sanctions against it.

Trump has given Russia more than one deadline to end the war, under the threat of increasing sanctions, before his meeting with Putin was scheduled.

Despite promising to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office, Trump’s administration has attempted to play down the importance of the summit with Putin, saying on Tuesday it would be a “listening exercise for the president.”

The Kremlin warned on Thursday of predicting the outcome of US President Donald Trump’s Friday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was cited by Interfax as saying there were no plans to sign any documents following the summit.

Peskov hailed Putin and Trump’s “political will to resolve existing issues through dialogue,” arguing that this sentiment was missing from the European side.

When asked whether the summit would discuss a potential exchange of territories to settle the conflict, a suggestion floated by Trump and vehemently rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Peskov said “issues related to the Ukrainian settlement will be discussed.”

Putin is due to be accompanied by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and the president’s special representative for foreign investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev.

A United Arab Emirates-mediated exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine has secured the release of 168 POWs, the Gulf country’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had announced the exchange earlier, but said it led to the release of 84 prisoners of war (see below), apparently not including the released Russian POWs.

The UAE ministry clarified 84 prisoners were exchanged from each side.

This brings the total number of POWs exchanged as part of Emirati mediation to 4,349, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency.

The ministry argued that the success of such mediation efforts was testament to “the strong and special nature of the UAE’s relationship to Russia and Ukraine.”

Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app has decried a Russian ban on its call service, while Moscow claimed the curbs were necessary to fight fraud and “terrorist” activities.

On Wednesday, Moscow banned calls on WhatsApp and Telegram. Russia’s Digital Ministry said calls would resume once “they start complying with Russian legislation.” 

WhatsApp condemned the decision.

“WhatsApp is private, end-to-end encrypted, and defies government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication, which is why Russia is trying to block it from over 100 million Russian people,” a spokesperson for Meta-owned WhatsApp told the AFP news agency.

Some 100 million of Russia’s population of roughly 143.5 million are WhatsApp users.

Telegram, which is owned by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, said it “actively combats misuse of its platform, including calls for sabotage or violence, as well as fraud” and removes “millions of pieces of harmful content every day.”

Moscow has often claimed that Kyiv used Telegram to recruit people or commit acts of sabotage in Russia.

Russia has recently launched some homegrown messaging apps, with less stringent privacy rules, that it hopes will take over foreign-owned ones. 

The US and Russian heads of state will have a “working breakfast” as part of their Alaska summit on Friday, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will first sit down for a one-on-one meeting, “naturally with the participation of interpreters,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

Then, their two delegations will meet.

Afterwards, talks will continue over a “working breakfast,” Ushakov said, before the pair do a joint press conference. 

The summit is due to start Friday at 11:30 a.m., local time (1930 GMT/UTC).

Germany said it will purchase $500 million (€428 million) in US-manufactured weapons for Ukraine in an effort to support Kyiv’s defense against Russian invaders.

Berlin, like other Ukrainian allies, will use NATO’s PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) mechanism to coordinate the purchase and delivery, according to statements from the Defense and Foreign ministries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the pledge in an X post Thursday, saying that Kyiv had secured $1.5 billion in financing from its European allies and calling PURL “a mechanism that truly strengthens our defense.”

According to NATO, PURL aid will include military equipment that cannot be produced by European manufacturers or can be delivered more quickly by the US than by European or Canadian allies.

“I commend Germany for stepping up once again. This delivery will help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression,” said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in a statement posted on X Thursday.

“Germany is the largest European contributor of military aid to Ukraine, and today’s announcement further underlines its commitment to help the Ukrainian people defend their freedom and sovereignty.”

Moscow and Kyiv exchanged 84 prisoners of war, including both military personnel and civilians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Thursday.

Ukrainians released include civilians held by Russia since 2014, 2016 and 2017, Zelenskyy said on X. He added that military personnel who were involved in defending Mariupol are also among those released.

“I am grateful to everyone who helps us continue to free Ukrainian captives,” Zelenskyy said, adding that almost all those released require “medical care and significant rehabilitation.”

The Ukrainian president thanked the UAE for its assistance in coordinating the exchange.

“The bravery and effectiveness of our units on the frontline make it possible, among other things, to bring our people back home,” Zelenskyy said, promising “more exchanges.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described his meeting in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “productive,” adding that the two leaders would continue to coordinate positions.

Zelenskyy said that the talks in London continued the conversations that started on Wednesday during a virtual meeting hosted by Germany.

“We also discussed in considerable detail the security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

The two leaders also discussed joint military cooperation, especially in light of Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s war, Zelenskyy said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcomed what he called “sincere efforts” by the US administration to end the Ukraine conflict.

“I would like to tell you about the stage we are at with the current American administration, which, as everyone knows, is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the fighting, end the crisis, and reach agreements of interest to all parties involved in this conflict,” Putin said.

He made the remarks during a meeting at the Kremlin with senior military and civilian officials a day before his scheduled summit with President Donald Trump.

Putin said the discussions with the United States were aimed at creating “the long–term conditions of peace between our countries, in Europe, and in the world as a whole, if we reach agreements in the field of strategic offensive arms control in the next stages.”

Large areas of eastern and southern Ukraine were forcibly seized by the Russian army.

Why do they matter to Russia? And could some be returned to Ukraine?

Read the full story on the prospects of Russia agreeing to return occupied land to Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine during their anticipated Alaska summit, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday.

“It is probably obvious to everyone that the central topic will be the resolution of the Ukraine crisis,” Ushakov told reporters on Thursday.

These will be held “one-on-one” between Putin and Trump, with only their interpreters in attendance, Ushakov said.

Trump and Putin will also discuss the “huge untapped potential” for bilateral economic ties, the Kremlin aid added.

The talks are scheduled to start at 11:30 am local time (1939 GMT). Putin and Trump will give a joint press conference following their meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s meeting at Downing Street lasted a little over an hour.

The pair shook hands and hugged as Zelenskyy departed. They did not speak to the media who were camping outside the prime minister’s official residence. 

Their meeting came a day ahead of a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Russian forces have intercepted and destroyed 44 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday, adding that nine were intercepted over the Volgograd region in the south.

A downed drone hit in Volgograd, causing a fire and a leak at an oil refinery, Governor Andrey Bocharov said.

“Firefighters quickly began extinguishing the fire. According to preliminary data, there were no casualties,” Bocharov said on the Telegram.

Drone attacks on the border region of Belgorod meanwhile injured at least three, the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.