Zelensky acknowledges Putin's ‘personal victory'
US President Donald Trump is expected to host his Russian counterpart for talks in Alaska on Friday. Zelensky touched upon the upcoming summit during a media op on Tuesday, suggesting the event marks the end of the 'international isolation' Russia had purportedly faced over the Ukraine conflict.
'Putin will meet Trump on US soil, and I consider this his personal victory,' Zelensky stated, adding that Moscow has also managed to 'get sanctions delayed,' apparently referring to the 10-day ultimatum issued by Trump to Russia in late July.
The US president announced the 'highly anticipated meeting' with Putin last week, revealing it will take place in Alaska. While the exact venue to host the talk has not been named yet, the latest media reports suggested the summit will likely take place at the Elmendorf–Richardson military base.
Both Washington and Moscow have been cautious about the expectations for the upcoming meeting, signaling the summit was likely to become the first top-level event in a string of talks rather than result in an immediate breakthrough. The talks are expected to revolve around the Ukraine conflict, as well as a broader range of bilateral Russia-US issues.
'We hope that the forthcoming high-level meeting will give an impulse to the normalization of bilateral relations, which will allow us to move forward on several issues,' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said.
The White House has also appeared to downplay expectations for the meeting, signaling it was unlikely to yield an immediate result with regard to the Ukraine conflict or other issues.
'This is a listening exercise for the [US] president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has stated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
2 hours ago
- Russia Today
Trump plans White House meeting with Zelensky and European leaders
US President Donald Trump has invited European leaders to join Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky at a meeting at the White House on Monday, the New York Times has claimed, citing anonymous European officials. On Friday, Trump met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Anchorage, Alaska, in what marked the first face-to-face talks between Russian and American leaders since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The US president described the encounter as 'warm,' while Putin characterized it as 'frank' and 'substantive.' Both men expressed tentative hopes that the summit could bring a resolution of the Ukraine conflict closer. On Saturday, the NYT quoted its sources as saying that Trump would receive Zelensky and that 'European leaders are invited to come along' as well. Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian leader announced in a post on X that he would travel to the US capital on Monday. Trump later confirmed the visit. Trump will propose a plan under which Kiev would be required to cede the parts of the new Russian territories in Donbass still under Ukrainian control, according to the newspaper. In return, the Kremlin would agree to cease hostilities along the current front line elsewhere, the publication claimed. Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out any territorial concessions to Moscow. In the wake of the Alaska summit, the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Poland, and the EU issued a joint statement expressing their readiness to 'work with President Trump and President Zelenskyy towards a trilateral summit with European support.' Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov earlier noted that Russia and the US have yet to discuss a potential meeting between Putin, Trump and Zelensky. Speaking to Fox Business on Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that Kiev's European backers should 'put up or shut up' and stop making demands on Washington while it tries to negotiate with Moscow a way out of the Ukraine conflict.
Russia Today
3 hours ago
- Russia Today
Russia accuses messaging apps of double standards over data requests
The messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp refuse to share data with the Russian authorities on fraud and terror plots but comply with similar requests from other countries, the Digital Development Ministry in Moscow has said. According to Russian security services, since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Kiev's intelligence agencies have used the apps to recruit operatives to carry out attacks inside Russia. Earlier this week, Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor partially blocked voice calls on both Telegram and WhatsApp. Text chats, file sharing, and other features remain available. The curtailed functions would be fully restored if the platforms comply with Russian laws, the regulator said. The Digital Development Ministry said on Wednesday that the messaging platforms 'despite repeated warnings… refuse to comply with the requirements of Russian law.' Telegram and WhatsApp refuse to provide information to law enforcement not only related to fraud, 'but also on planning and committing terrorist acts' in Russia. 'At the same time, all requirements for the provision of such information at the request of foreign intelligence services are promptly fulfilled,' it said. This year alone, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has reported several plots in which suspects said they were contacted through the apps and instructed to prepare attacks. One such plot was intercepted just days before it could unfold. A man told investigators he was approached in January on WhatsApp by an officer of Ukraine's Security Service. He said he received assignments, small payments, and later photos and coordinates for an explosive cache meant to damage energy infrastructure in Novorossiysk, a major Russian port city on the Black Sea. He was detained by the FSB before reaching the site. Another man was arrested in the western Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on suspicion of preparing an attack at May 9 Victory Day celebrations. The authorities said he had received his orders through Telegram and was paid in cryptocurrency. Europe, despite its own bitter experience with terrorism, continues to show unwavering support for Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has offered assurances that the EU 'will be at [Ukraine's] side for as long as it takes.' Germany, France, and other European nations have made similar pledges. See RT's report below:
Russia Today
5 hours ago
- Russia Today
Putin-Trump summit ‘erased' Western narratives – EU state's leader
The summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, in Alaska has challenged the West's entrenched confrontational narratives regarding relations with Moscow, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has claimed. In defiance of the EU's prevailing approach, Fico halted Bratislava's military aide to Kiev in October 2023, and has been a vocal critic of the bloc's sanctions against Moscow, as well as suggestions that Ukraine join NATO. In a video posted on Facebook on Saturday, Fico stated that the sheer fact that Putin and Trump had met in person was the 'most important thing' about the summit in Anchorage on Friday. 'Politicians need to meet and show mutual respect, to talk and try to understand each other,' the Slovak prime minister argued. He further claimed that the high-profile meeting had 'rejected the black-and-white view of the military conflict in Ukraine' and essentially 'erased a single mandatory opinion on the war.' 'We must speak equally about security guarantees both for Ukraine and for the Russian Federation,' taking into account the 'historical roots' of the conflict, Fico emphasized. 'The next few days will show whether the major players in the EU will support this process,' or continue to persist with their 'failing' strategy aimed at weakening Russia. In a post on X on Saturday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, similarly hailed the Putin-Trump meeting for having made the 'world a safer place than it was yesterday.' Speaking to Fox News following the summit, the US president described the talks with his Russian counterpart as 'warm,' bringing the sides 'pretty close to the end' of the Ukraine conflict, with 'one or two pretty significant items' left to iron out. Putin characterized the talks with Trump as 'constructive' and 'useful.'
