Zelenskyy and Starmer meet in London on eve of Trump-Putin talks
A Downing Street readout of the Zelenskyy- Starmer meeting said the two men looked at Friday's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as a ' viable chance to make progress as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious about peace'.
'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,' Mr. Zelenskyy said on X, after the meeting of the so called Coalition of the Willing, a group of mostly European countries that would provide a 'reassurance force' in Ukraine, to help maintain peace, following any ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow.
Mr. Zelenksyy was in Berlin to meet with the group on Wednesday (August 13, 2025) prior to a conference call with Mr. Trump and U.S. Vice President J D Vance (who is in the U.K. at the moment). The call was hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Mr. Starmer and Mr. Zelenksyy reviewed Wednesday's meeting and had 'agreed there had been a powerful sense of unity and a strong resolve to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,' Downing Street said.
Europe has been engaging Mr. Trump prior to Friday's discussions with Mr. Putin. The U.S. President also reacted faourably to his call with the European leaders.
'I would rate it a 10. Very friendly,' Mr. Trump had said about the call. The U.S. President has said he will meet Mr. Zeleknsyy and Mr. Putin together, if Friday's meeting in Alaska goes well.
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Economic Times
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- Economic Times
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Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska: President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin met for about 2 1/2 hours on Friday, a summit in Alaska that started with a handshake, a smile and a ride in the presidential limousine - an unusually warm reception for a U.S. adversary responsible for launching the largest land war in Europe since and Putin met behind closed doors with top advisers on efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine. When they greeted each other, they gripped hands for an extended period of time on a red carpet rolled out at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. As they chatted, Putin grinned and pointed skyward, where B-2s and F-22s - military aircraft designed to oppose Russia during the Cold War - flew nearby yelled, "President Putin, will you stop killing civilians?" and Russia's leader put his hand up to his ear as though to indicate he couldn't hear them. Trump and Putin then shared the U.S. presidential limo known as "The Beast" for a short ride to their meeting site, with Putin offering a broad smile as the vehicle rolled past the was the kind of reception typically reserved for close U.S. allies and belied the bloodshed and suffering in the war Putin started in Ukraine. Although not altogether surprising considering their longtime friendly relationship, such outward friendliness before hours of closed-door meetings is likely to raise concerns from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, who fear that Trump is primarily focusing on furthering U.S. interests and not pressing hard enough for Ukraine' and European leaders were excluded from Trump and Putin's discussions, and Ukraine's president was left posting a video address in which he expressed his hope for a "strong position from the U.S.""Everyone wants an honest end to the war. Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to end the war," he said, later adding, "The war continues and it continues precisely because there is no order, nor any signals from Moscow, that it is preparing to end this war."The summit was a chance for Trump to prove he's a master dealmaker and peacemaker. He likes to brag about himself as a heavyweight negotiator and has boasted that he could easily find a way to bring the slaughter to a close - a promise he's been unable to keep so Putin, it was an opportunity to try to negotiate a deal that would cement Russia's gains, block Kyiv's bid to join the NATO military alliance and eventually pull Ukraine back into Moscow's meeting one-on-one anymore White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said shortly before Air Force One touched down that the previously planned one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin was now a three-on-three discussion including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Putin was joined by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign affairs adviser Yuri change seemed to indicate that the White House was taking a more guarded approach than it did during a 2018 meeting in Helsinki, where Trump and Putin met privately with their interpreters and Trump then shocked the world by siding with the Russian leader over U.S. intelligence officials on whether Russia meddled in the 2016 two leaders began their meeting Friday by sitting with their aides in front of a blue backdrop printed with "Alaska" and "Pursuing Peace." The pair are expected to hold a joint press conference at the end of the are significant risks for Trump. By bringing Putin onto U.S. soil - America bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for roughly 2 cents per acre - the president is giving him the validation he desires after his ostracization following his invasion of Ukraine 3 1/2 years exclusion is also a heavy blow to the West's policy of "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine" and invites the possibility that Trump could agree to a deal that Ukraine does not success is far from assured, meanwhile, since Russia and Ukraine remain far apart in their demands for peace. Putin has long resisted any temporary ceasefire, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies and a freeze on Ukraine's mobilization efforts, which are conditions rejected by Kyiv and its Western said earlier in the week there was a 25% chance that the summit would fail, but he also floated the idea that if the meeting succeeds he could bring Zelenskyy to Alaska for a subsequent meeting with himself and Putin. He said during an interview on Air Force One that he might walk out quickly if the meeting wasn't going well, but that didn't said before arriving in Alaska that he would push for an immediate ceasefire while expressing doubts about the possibility of achieving one. He has also suggested working for a broad peace deal to be done quickly. Russia has long favored a comprehensive deal to end the fighting, reflecting its demands, and not a temporary halt to has offered shifting explanations for his meeting goals Trump previously characterized the sit-down as " really a feel-out meeting." But he's also warned of "very severe consequences" for Russia if Putin doesn't agree to end the said his talks with Putin will include Russian demands that Ukraine cede territory as part of a peace deal, and that Ukraine has to decide on those - but he also suggested Zelenskyy should accept concessions."I've got to let Ukraine make that decision. And I think they'll make a proper decision," Trump told reporters traveling with him to said there's "a possibility" of the United States offering Ukraine security guarantees alongside European powers, "but not in the form of NATO." Putin has fiercely resisted Ukraine joining the trans-Atlantic security alliance, a long-term goal for Ukrainians seeking to forge stronger ties with the Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, is also in Alaska to provide "military advice" to Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to a senior NATO military official who wasn't authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of presence is likely to be welcomed by European leaders who have tried to convince Trump to be firm with Putin and not deal over Kyiv's still raging Foreign governments are watching closely to see how Trump reacts to Putin, likely gauging what the interaction might mean for their own dealings with the U.S. president, who has eschewed traditional diplomacy for his own transactional approach to meeting comes as the war has caused heavy losses on both sides and drained resources. Ukraine has held on far longer than some initially expected since the February 2022 invasion, but it is straining to hold off Russia's much larger army, grappling with bombardments of its cities and fighting for every inch on the over 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) front is separated from Russia at its closest point by just 3 miles (less than 5 kilometers) and the international date Base Elmendorf-Richardson was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It continues to play a role today, as planes from the base still intercept Russian aircraft that regularly fly into U.S. airspace.
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Time of India
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'HIGH-STAKES': Trump's BIG MESSAGE To World Before Alaska Departure For Putin Meet
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