Overview Logo
Article Main Image

Day 1,263: Tensions mount ahead of Alaska talks: Europe proposes its own peace plan, territorial dispute divides allies

Pravda

Slovakia

Saturday, August 9


Alternative Takes

The World's Current Take

Neutral/Factual Reporting

Skeptical/Cautious Perspective


European leaders have come up with their own proposal to end the war in Ukraine - just days before Donald Trump's historic meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. While Washington is talking about a deal involving a land swap, Kiev and its allies warn that such a solution could embolden Moscow to further aggression.

Most important events

Ukrainian intelligence: We destroyed Russian radars and military vessel in Crimea

22:07 European officials reportedly presented their own proposals for peace in Ukraine to the United States on Saturday ahead of US President Donald Trump's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump announced on Friday that he will meet with Putin in Alaska on August 15. He says the parties to the conflict, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, are close to an agreement that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year war.

Details of the potential deal have not yet been announced, but Trump said it would include"some exchange of territory for the benefit of both sides." It could require Ukraine to give up significant parts of its territory, which Kiev and its European allies say would only embolden Russia to be more aggressive, Reuters reported.

US Vice President J.D. Vance met with representatives of Ukraine and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's peace efforts.

The American newspaper Wall Street Journal reported that European officials presented a counterproposal demanding, among other things, strong security guarantees, that a ceasefire precede further steps, and that the exchange of territory be reciprocal.

"You cannot start the process by giving up territory in the middle of fighting," the newspaper quoted one of the European negotiators as saying. European officials contacted by Reuters could not confirm the report.

Zelensky said the meeting in Britain was constructive."All our arguments were heard," he said in an evening video address."The path to peace for Ukraine should be determined together and only together with Ukraine, that is the key principle," he added. In a previous statement, he had rejected any territorial concessions.

A reporter for the news website Axios quoted a US official as saying after the talks in Britain that the meeting, which lasted several hours,"made significant progress toward President Trump's goal of ending the war in Ukraine." It was not clear, however, whether the participants agreed on anything. (tasr/reuters)

20:32 The future of Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukrainians, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday. The news came after Washington and Moscow agreed to hold a summit on August 15 aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

"Europeans will also inevitably be part of the solution, because their security is at stake," Macron wrote on social media after a conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday. He added that he had also spoken with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

18:50 The $3.5 billion investment in the AMRAAM missile contract strengthens the air superiority capabilities of the United States and its allies, integrating advanced target acquisition technologies and operational versatility in a complex geopolitical context and within the framework of multilateral cooperation.

16:08 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukraine's allies to take"clear steps" to achieve a sustainable peace during a phone call with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. National security advisers from Kiev's allies met in Britain on Saturday to coordinate their views ahead of the Putin-Trump summit.

"It is really important that the Russians do not succeed in deceiving anyone again," Zelensky said after a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, without giving further details.

Zelenskyy said Kiev was"ready for real decisions that can bring peace," but said it should be a "dignified peace," without giving details.

15:40 British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and US Vice President J. D. Vance confirmed that they will lead a meeting of national security advisers from Europe and the US in Britain on Saturday. The meeting will discuss the war in Ukraine, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said. TASR reports on this based on a report by the AFP agency.

The talks in Kent are expected to last all day, according to British government sources. The meeting will be “an important forum to discuss progress in securing a just and lasting peace,” Starmer’s office said in a transcript of a phone call between the prime minister and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday. “Both leaders welcomed President (US) Donald) Trump’s desire to end this barbaric war and agreed that pressure must continue to be put on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to end his illegal war,” the office added in a transcript seen by AFP.

Zelensky has held a series of phone calls with Kiev's allies in recent days, following a visit to Moscow by US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the announcement of a planned meeting between the White House chief of staff and Putin. The talks between the two leaders are set to take place on August 15 in Alaska.

"Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners. We appreciate the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States and all our partners to end the war," Zelensky added in a post on social media.

13:46 The head of the Russian State Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, said that some countries will make huge efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

Trump announced on his social network Truth Social on Friday that he would meet with the Russian president on Friday, August 15, in the US state of Alaska. The meeting was also confirmed by the Russian side.

Dmitriev said on Saturday that some countries, which he did not name, were seeking to prolong the more than three-year-old war in Ukraine. “Undoubtedly, a number of countries interested in continuing the conflict will make enormous efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between President Putin and President Trump,” Dmitriev wrote on the Telegram platform. He clarified that by the efforts in question he meant “provocations and disinformation.”

Putin's adviser Yuri Ushakov said Trump and Putin would"focus on discussing the possibilities of achieving a long-term peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis" during their meeting."It will probably be a difficult process, but we will be actively and energetically involved," he added. (tasr/reuters)

13:07 The Ukrainian army has found a new use for an aircraft originally produced for spraying fields. The legendary Czech machine Čmeliak has received a military modification and is helping in the fight against Russian drones.

12:51 Russian armed forces have taken control of the village of Yablunivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry announced this today, according to the TASS agency. Ukrainian authorities in the Donetsk region said on Friday evening that they had ordered the evacuation of civilians from about twenty villages due to the continued advance of Russian troops.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The news of the capture of another village in the Donetsk region comes shortly after the announcement that US President Donald Trump will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next Friday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned today that any solution to the conflict with Russia without Ukraine's participation would be an anti-peace solution, adding that Ukrainians would not surrender their country to the occupiers.

Bloomberg reported on Friday that Washington and Moscow are preparing a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine that would confirm Russia's territorial gains in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donbass. Moscow also wants to retain the Crimean peninsula, which it seized in 2014.

9:20 Ukraine cannot violate constitutional principles regarding its territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this, adding that Ukrainians will not surrender their country to the occupiers. In response to the report on the planned Russian-American summit, he stressed that any solution to the conflict with Russia made without Ukraine's participation would be a solution against peace.

8:56 Will the war in Ukraine end after Trump's face-to-face debate with Putin? These are five options, as seen by the news channel CNN.

8:00 Neither Turkey, nor Saudi Arabia, nor the United Arab Emirates. The important meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin will finally take place in the US state of Alaska in less than a week. Representatives of both sides have already confirmed this.

7:15 Most Ukrainians currently favor ending the war with Russia through negotiations, as support for fighting until victory has plummeted since the beginning of the conflict. Although their hopes of joining NATO and the European Union have faded and approval of US leadership has plummeted, Ukrainians still see the EU, the UK and the US as key factors in ending the war. But most doubt that will happen in the near future, Benedict Vigers of the Gallup Institute said in a commentary on a poll the institute conducted.

“After more than three years of war, Ukrainians’ support for continuing to fight until victory has reached a new low. In the latest Gallup poll in Ukraine, conducted in early July, 69% of respondents said they favored ending the war as soon as possible through negotiations, compared to 24% who supported continuing to fight until victory. This represents an almost complete reversal from public opinion in 2022, when 73% favored Ukraine fighting until victory and 22% favored Ukraine seeking to end the war as soon as possible through negotiations,” he wrote.

Support for the war effort is steadily declining across all segments of the Ukrainian population, regardless of region or demographic group, the survey shows.

While a clear majority of Ukrainians currently favor an early end to the war through negotiations, most are skeptical that active fighting will end soon. One in four (25%) think it is likely that active fighting will end within the next 12 months, while only 5% consider it “very likely.” More than two-thirds (68%) think it is unlikely that active fighting will end within the next year.

Hopes for rapid NATO membership fell to 51% last year and continue to fall, reaching 32% in 2025, half the number in 2022. Meanwhile, the percentage of those who believe Ukraine will never be admitted to NATO has risen to 33%, in line with the percentage of those who expect membership within the next 10 years. Hopes for a future within the EU have not fallen as sharply as for NATO, but they are still weaker than before the war. A narrow majority of adult Ukrainians (52%) expect Ukraine to be admitted to the EU within the next decade, compared to 61% last year and 73% in 2022 and 2023, the survey results show.

The Gallup Organization is a renowned international public opinion research agency, founded in 1935 by George Gallup in the USA. It specializes in surveys of political preferences, consumer opinions, and audience attitudes.

Get the full experience in the app

Scroll the Globe, Pick a Country, See their News

International stories that aren't found anywhere else.

Global News, Local Perspective

50 countries, 150 news sites, 500 articles a day.

Don’t Miss what Gets Missed

Explore international stories overlooked by American media.

Unfiltered, Uncensored, Unbiased

Articles are translated to English so you get a unique view into their world.

Apple App Store Badge