The Latest Breaking News from Vladimir Putin

Back-to-back summits in Alaska and Washington with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, respectively, have done little to clarify how U.S. President Donald Trump intends to engineer an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

In an interview, EU diplomacy chief slammed calls for Ukraine to cede land, warning they fall into a trap set by Russian premier Vladimir Putin. She accused Moscow of blocking peace, criticised Trump’s Alaska meeting with Putin, urged tougher sanctions, and called for lasting security guarantees.

COMMENT: As the US president leaves Russia and Ukraine to sort a ceasefire among themselves, Sean O’Grady asks if this is Trump’s famously short attention span at play – or whether he is merely reluctant to be associated with near-certain failure

Kim hands out medals to ‘heroes’ sent by North Korea to help Russia expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk

Former Vice President Mike Pence called on the Senate to approve sweeping sanctions against Russia, even as President Donald Trump presses forward with efforts to broker peace in Ukraine.

Sergei Lavrov also said Russia had agreed to be flexible on a number of points raised by US president Donald Trump

Russia needs more workers, primarily due to its war in Ukraine

State-controlled Korean Central News Agency said Kim awarded state "hero" titles to commanders and soldiers who returned after fighting alongside Russian forces in the Kursk border region.

The Ukrainian president said China has helped Russia, despite also calling for a peaceful resolution to the war.

In Washington, the European message was clear: Europeans were united in their demands for ceasefire, for security guarantees, and support for Ukraine, says Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Europe did not come to Washington to negotiate with America as a partner; it came to plead with Trump not to make a unilateral deal on Ukraine with Putin, writes Ashok Swain.