Protestors hold slogans during a demonstration against the idea of territorial swap and to demand prisoners exchange between Ukraine and Russia, outside the US embassy in Kyiv on August 15, 2025, ahead of Trump-Putin talks in Alaska. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
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Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 1,270.
Trump’s meeting with Putin meeting in Alaska
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, met in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15 for one of the most consequential in-person summits in years. The meeting, which lasted for nearly three hours, ended without a concrete deal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would travel to Washington on Monday, while Kyiv’s European allies vowed to back Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia.
Pro-Ukrainian demonstrators filled downtown streets in Anchorage, holding signs condemning the high-level meeting between Moscow and Washington. A joint press conference is expected following the closed-door meeting between the two presidents.
In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes involving accusations that Russia has forcibly taken Ukrainian children. Trump’s hosting of him in the US and giving Vladimir Putin a warm public welcome ended Putin’s diplomatic isolation over the past three years and legitimized him as a player on the international scene.
ALASKA, UNITED STATES – AUGUST 15: Demonstrators gather in front of the Peterson Tower held a protest with the slogan ‘Stand UP for Ukraine’ as US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meets at Elmendorf-Richardson Joint Base in Anchorage, Alaska, United States on August 15, 2025. (Photo by Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Anadolu via Getty Images
In Ukraine, most of the public didn’t perceive the summit as a positive development. The normalization of relations with Russia’s ruling elite is seen as a clear step toward removing accountability. The makeup of the Russian delegation suggests that future economic cooperation will be on the table. President Trump is reportedly considering offering Russia opportunities to access valuable natural resources in the narrow strait that separates the two countries. Alaska, divided from Russia by just three miles across the Bering Strait, is believed to contain substantial untapped reserves, including oil.
Russian Attacks and War Developments
Between Aug. 12-15, Russian strikes killed at least 22 and injured more than 64 civilians across Ukraine. Eight civilians were killed and 33 were wounded in the eastern province of Donetsk. Six people were killed in each of the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, with a total of 24 people injured. One person was killed in Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions, while seven others were wounded.
Ukrainian military officials say they have “stabilized” the front line in eastern Donetsk region after what some analysts called a Russian “breakthrough” earlier this week. A recent Russian push near the town of Dobropillia, penetrating an estimated 6 miles into positions of Ukrainian forces, raised concerns over an upcoming broader collapse in the Ukrainian army.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has disclosed the exact daily military losses of Ukraine for the first time. On Aug. 12, He told reporters that on the previous day, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost 340 troops: 18 killed, 243 wounded, and 79 missing. “Usually, the missing are either dead, whose bodies we could not retrieve, or those taken prisoner,” he added.