Ukraine-Russia war latest: Europe warns Kyiv must be part of talks as Trump ‘open to’ invite

US president Donald Trump has confirmed he will be meeting with his Russian counterpart in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Located to the west of Canada, the US state is not connected to the mainland, making it the only non-contiguous state in continental North America.

Alaska became a US state in 1959, nearly 100 years after the land was purchased by the country from the Russian Federation in 1867.

The chosen location is likely practical rather than symbolic, as it offers a middle ground between the two nations.

The Russian president’s delegation will make its way over the Bering Strait – 51 miles at its narrowest point – which separates Russia and the US to attend the meeting.

For security reasons, the exact location has remained undisclosed, and likely will not be in Alaska’s capital, Juneau.

Announcing his meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Trump said: “I’ll be meeting very shortly with President Putin. It would have been sooner but I guess there’s security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make. Otherwise I’d do it much quicker”

“He would, too. He’d like to meet as soon as possible, I agree with it.”

He went on to add: “It’s a war that never should have happened. It would have never happened if I were president. There was no reason for it.”

Earlier this year, a meeting between Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump turned hostile as US vice president JD Vance accused the Ukrainian president of being “disrespectful.”

Donald Trump has said a peace deal may involve the “swapping of territories” between Russia and Ukraine.

“We’re going to get some back. We’re going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” he said.

The US president did not comment on whether Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky would be included in the talks, but a White House spokesperson has said he is “open to” it.

The Kremlin confirmed the summit in an online statement and said the two leaders would “focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis”.

“It seems entirely logical for our delegation to fly across the Bering Strait simply, and for such an important and anticipated summit of the leaders of the two countries to be held in Alaska,” President Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said in a statement posted to the Kremlin’s news channel.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the planned summit between Mr Trump and Mr Putin, would lead to “dead solutions” if the deal excluded Kyiv.

In a statement posted to Telegram, Zelensky said Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”

On Saturday, Zelensky also backed a joint statement from European leaders which urged for Ukraine’s involvement in the talks.

“Ukraine has the freedom of choice over its own destiny” is the message European leaders chose to send to US president Donald Trump ahead of his meeting with Vladimir Putin next week.

“We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.”

The Independent’s Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin reports:

Ahead of Putin and Trump’s meeting in Alaska on Friday, here is the latest look at the situation on the ground in Ukraine.

Russia currently occupies large portion’s of four Ukraine regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.

Putin first recognised the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk as separatist regions in Ukraine in February 2022.

This paved the way for a full-scale invasion just days later.

Later in the year, the invading country formally announce the annexation of all four regions after voters in the region backed their provinces to join Russia in elections run by the country.

The votes were slammed as meaningless and illegal by Kyiv and Western allies.

It is likely Putin will reiterate his demand for Ukraine to give up the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Friday, as well as for an end to calls for Crimea – occupied since 2014 – to be returned.

Britain’s foreign secretary David Lammy hosted a meeting with US vice-president JD Vance and European nationals security advisors on Saturday to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Understood to have been requested by the US, the meeting also saw Ukrainian officials in attendance. Mr Lammy said that the “UK’s support for Ukraine remains ironclad as we continue working towards a just and lasting peace.”

The meeting was held at Chevening, the foreign secretary’s official country residence in Kent, where Vance and his family were staying.

The talks came ahead of US president Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

European leaders have urged for Ukraine to be represented at the talks.

US president Donald Trump has conceded that any peace deal struck over Russia’s war in Ukraine may see “some swapping of territories.”

Since beginning his second term, Trump has not taken a hard stance on the possibility of Russia gaining Ukrainian territory to bring an end to the war.

But international allies are outspoken against the idea. Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded to be included in the talks, adding that the country “will not give their land to the occupier.”

Meanwhile, in a statement backed by the Ukrainian president today, European leaders say “international borders must not be changed by force.”

Russian forces currently hold several large swathes of land in eastern and southern Ukraine, including Crimea which was occupied in 2014.

In 2022, the country formally announced the annexation of four partially occupied regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is understood to have made only small advances inside Russian territory in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

US president Donald Trump is set to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimr Putin in Alaska on Friday.

In a post of Truth Social, Trump said: “The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska.”

The meeting between the two leaders will be the first US-Russia summit since 2021, when former US President Joe Biden met Mr Putin in Switzerland.

However, critics pointed out that Russia once laid claim to the state of Alaska at the beginning of the 1770s, where they mercilessly exploited Alaskan natives to hunt fur for the Russians, and nationalists have long wanted to take it back.

British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said he had spoke to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday, looking ahead to a meeting of European leaders, Ukraine and the United States.

In a statement, No 10 said: “Both leaders welcomed President Trump’s desire to bring this barbaric war to an end and agreed that we must keep up the pressure on Putin to end his illegal war.

“The Prime Minister ended the call by reiterating his unwavering support for Ukraine and its people.”

Sir Keir has not individually addressed the planned peace talks between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin which are set to take place on Friday.

However, the prime minister co-signed a joint European leaders’ statement on the plans, which said: “The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine. We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force.”

President Trump has not made clear if he will invite Zelensky to the talks next week. A White House spokesperson said he remains “open” to the possibility.