Donald Trump shows reporters the photograph that Vladimir Putin sent him of their meeting in Alaska, White House, August 22, 2025

Friday’s Coverage: Zelensky Highlights Russia’s “Massive Attacks”

UPDATE 1431 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has commented on his discussion with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof about security guarantees “in the coming days”:

There is now a real chance to end this war, and Ukraine is ready for constructive steps that can bring true peace closer. However, Russia is showing no intention of peace on its side and continues shelling our cities. We interpret all signals coming from Moscow these days in the same way. Pressure is needed to change their position, as well as a meeting at the highest level to discuss all issues.

The two men spoke about “joint projects and investments in Ukraine’s defense production”, with preparation of “important agreements and a meeting in the near-future”.

Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Friday to discuss possible guarantees.

Zelensky also had a call with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa:

I reaffirmed my readiness for any format of meeting with the head of Russia. However, we see that Moscow is once again trying to drag everything out even further. It is important that the Global South sends relevant signals and pushes Russia toward peace.

UPDATE 0659 GMT:

A Russian soldier has said in an interview that participated in the murder of five captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Ivan Okhlopkov, a member of the Somali battalion, told the Russian publication Vot Tak of the killing in May 2024, near Avdiivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Okhlopkov said the Ukrainian soldiers were hiding in the basement of a private home. They “shot back until they ran out of bullets”, after which they emerged from cover.

Russian forces took away their phones, bulletproof vests, and documents, then executed them. Okhlopko said one of the soldiers looked to be around 20 years old, and the others were around 40.

Okhlopkov said the order to kill was given by a servicewoman who was the commander of the assault platoon.

Asked if it was easy for him to commit murder, Okhlopkov replied, “Well, how? This is war. There is no such thing as easy or hard. It has to be. Either you or them.”

UPDATE 0642 GMT:

The European Union has disbursed more than €4 billion (about $4.7 billion) in financial aid to Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement:

As Ukraine celebrates its 34th Independence Day, the EU sends a clear message: our solidarity with Ukraine is unwavering.

This new funding underlines our commitment not only to Ukraine’s recovery, but to its future as a sovereign and democratic country. Because when Ukraine is strong, Europe is stronger too.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: As Russia continues to fend off his request for summit meetings and a halt to their attacks on Ukraine’s civilian areas, Donald Trump fell into confusion on Friday over his feelings for Vladimir Putin.

At a press appearance, Trump said he was unhappy about Russia’s strike on an American electronics manufacturer in western Ukraine on Wednesday. The attack on the Flex factory injured 19 people and set the plant ablaze.

“I’m going to make a decision as to what we do and it’s going to be, it’s going to be a very important decision, and that’s whether or not it’s massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both, or we do nothing and say it’s your fight,” he said.

But as soon as he issued his threat, Trump replaced it with his desire for Putin’s attention.

He showed a photograph, sent to him by Putin, of them on the red carpet — laid out by US troops for the Russian leader — in Alaska last Friday. Declaring that Putin wants to attend football’s World Cup 2026 football tournament in the US, Trump said:

I’m going to sign this for him. But I was sent one, and I thought you would like to see it, it’s a man named Vladimir Putin, who I believe will be coming, depending on what happens. He may be coming, and he may not, depending on what happens.

During a visit to a nuclear research center, Putin maintained his flattery of the reality TV star: “With the arrival of President Trump, I think that a light at the end of the tunnel has finally loomed. And now we had a very good, meaningful and frank meeting in Alaska.”

Kremlin Again Rejects Zelensky-Putin Meeting

The Kremlin reiterated its rejection of the meeting between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin which is being sought by Trump.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has spent the past three days pushing back the initiative, told US outlet NBC News on Friday, “Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all.”

Repeating the Kremlin’s line that the Zelensky Government is illegitimate, he asked how Putin could meet with an individual “pretending to be a leader”.

Alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Kyiv, Zelensky noted, “The meeting is one of the components of how to end the war. And since they don’t want to end it, they will look for space to [avoid it].”

Rutte assured that support for Ukraine is “unwavering” and “continues to grow”, with more NATO funding to ensure “a crucial flow of lethal US weapons”.

Robust security guarantees will be essential, and this is what we are now working to define, so that when the time comes you for you to enter that bilateral meeting, you have the unmistakable force of Ukraine’s friends behind you, ensuring that Russia will uphold any deal, and will never ever again, attempt to take one square kilometer of Ukraine….

We are now working together – Ukraine, the Europeans, the United States – to make sure that the security guarantees are of such a level that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, sitting in Moscow, will never, ever try to attack Ukraine again.

Trump “Very Angry” at Ukraine Attack on Russian Pipeline

Earlier on Friday, Trump chided Ukraine, sending a note to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán which said he was “very angry” about Kyiv’s latest attack on a gas pipeline from Russia to Hungary.

“You are my great friend,” Trump assured Orbán, a long-time ally of Putin.

On Thursday night, Ukrainian drones attacked the Unecha oil pumping station, one of the largest hubs of the Druzhba oil pipeline, in western Russia. The strike was the fourth this month on the facility.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said supplies via the Druzhba pipeline have been suspended.

Szijjarto and Slovakian Juraj Blanár, in a joint letter, urged the European Commission to guarantee supplies: “We find Ukraine’s actions, which severely threaten the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia, completely unacceptable.”