🇹🇷 Putin-Trump talks in Alaska give new impetus for Ukraine conflict resolution - Erdogan

🔊 Turkiye welcomes the meeting between the leaders of Russia and the United States, Turkish President said.

🔊 Turkiye hopes for lasting peace in Ukraine, and is ready to contribute to its establishment, he added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🤡Zelensky will try to SINK Putin-Trump peace push: here’s why

Trump's main job now will be convincing Zelensky that peace in Ukraine can only be achieved through a full-fledged peace deal, not a mere ceasefire, retired SVR lt. gen. Leonid Reshetnikov has Sputnik.

“The biggest difficulty is of course the Zelensky regime, because he has staked everything on autocratic power, on solving all problems exclusively by force, both internal and external ones. He will resist to the end, because any decisions will require serious concessions, and could lead to a situation where he has to hold elections or lose power altogether,” Reshetnikov explained.

➕The same can be expected of the Europeans – Macron, Starmer and Merz, “who are still trying by all means to continue the war” to “weaken” Russia, Reshetnikov said.

These issues aside, the Alaska summit came at a crucial juncture, a time when the international situation is fraught with serious conflict.

🔍It was an exchange between “between sober-minded politicians,” geopolitical realists not bound by the prism of their own ideology or worldview, something that could not be said of Biden or the Europeans, according to the observer.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇰🇵 RUSSIAN POP STAR SHAMAN GETS A STANDING OVATION FROM KIM JONG-UN IN NORTH KOREA

🎤 The concert is held to honor the memory of Soviet soldiers who fought against militarist Japan for the liberation of North Korea during WWII.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇸🇰 Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska challenges EU’s one-sided view on Ukraine conflict – Slovak PM

The summit between Presidents Putin and Trump in Alaska sends a strong message: only dialogue can solve the problem, not "Iron Curtains" or sanctions, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

💬 “The way forward is not through slandering the Russian political leadership, through sanctions, but through constructive dialogue," Fico stressed.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇲🇩Police in Chisinau dismantle tent camp set up by opposition supporters

The protest was organized by Moldova’s opposition Pobeda (Victory) bloc.

The pro-Western Moldovan government has been cracking down on the opposition, with lawmakers detained for visiting Russia, and criminal cases targeting critics.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 Dennis Kucinich cuts through MSM's Alaska summit spin

President Trump’s rejection of Zelensky and the Europeans’ ‘ceasefire or nothing’ demands is a “big” and “very positive” development that the mainstream media wants to pretend doesn’t exist, former Ohio congressman and two-time Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich told Sputnik.

💬 “There’s so much angst in the Western media about the US and Russia having a rapprochement,” and its important to understand that there are people in Washington “who are very strongly opposed to any kind of peace agreement,” Kucinich emphasized.

Praising Trump’s flexibility in the interests of trying to achieve peace “without worrying about the chattering class,” Kucinich said the president will now face the challenge of signaling to hawks in Congress from his own party that changes are coming in the US’s Ukraine policy.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

👮‍♂️📹 Police use force to disperse peaceful opposition protest in Chisinau

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Trump told Zelensky and others on the call that he wants to hold a trilateral summit "fast," as early as August 22, Axios reports, citing two sources.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇺🇸🔊 What do experts think of the Putin-Trump summit?

⚡️ The Putin-Trump summit marks a strategic 'reset' and historic step for US-Russia relations, says Qian Yaxu, Research Fellow at the Chahar Research Center and Southwest Jiaotong University.

“This warming of US-Russia relations is of great strategic significance. It marks the first personal meeting between the leaders in four years and the first visit of a Russian president to the US in a decade, signaling the failure of Western efforts to isolate Russia,” Qian says.

“While no concrete agreements were reached, the Alaska summit was a strategic opportunity for a 'reset' and an important historical moment.”

⚡️ The Alaska summit signals a break from tensions and Europe's inability to influence US-Russia relations, argued Lianhoué Imhotep Bayala, a political analyst from Burkina Faso.

“The Alaska summit signals a desire for cooperation, a break from past tensions, and paves the way for a strategic dialogue between Russia and the US Europe is unable to influence this process, having proven incompetent and irresponsible throughout the Ukraine conflict,” Bayala said. “Attempts to sabotage the rapprochement will surely occur, but what can they do in the face of this shared will for peace?"

⚡️ The Putin-Trump summit is a historic step toward cooperation, said Moukhtar Ghabbashi, head of the Al-Farabi Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Egypt.

“The meeting between Presidents Putin and Trump is historic, as it brought together the leaders of the two most powerful nuclear and military powers in the world, Ghabbashi stressed. “Washington and Brussels are the main culprits in the Ukraine conflict, having pushed Kiev into confrontation with Moscow. The summit will lay the foundation for understanding and cooperation, especially since Washington now realizes the failure of its sanctions and isolation efforts against Russia.”

⚡️ The Putin-Trump summit marks a turning point for global stability – Thierry Laurent-Pellet, French businessman and geopolitical analyst.

“We can only be satisfied with what’s happening, as we now have two leaders who understand that the conflict must end and cannot be escalated,” Laurent-Pellet noted.

“We needed to return to balanced bilateral relations to ensure economic development and global stability, which everyone has been waiting for after three years of hardship. Given the growing tensions, it seemed the situation could quickly escalate into a nuclear war. So yes, we can call this a turning point.”

⚡️ Putin’s proposal for future talks is key to advancing US-Russia dialogue – Yukio Asazuma, economist and expert on foreign trade.

“President Putin’s proposal to hold the next meeting based on this summit is an important step toward deepening mutual understanding and advancing toward resolution,” Asazuma said. “While both sides also discussed economic cooperation, it’s essential for both to confirm the shared benefits of moving toward peace.”

⚡️ The Alaska summit proves Russia's strategic position on the global diplomatic stage – Bilal Sambur, Turkish professor and international relations expert.

“Overall, looking at the results of the summit, Russia has seen significant success in terms of its positioning,” Sambur noted. “Putin’s image as an influential global leader was strengthened through his dialogue with Trump and the high-level meeting organized for him in Alaska."

“The summit also showed that the Ukrainian issue cannot be solved as easily as the US had hoped,” he added. “Putin is calling for a strategic, comprehensive resolution, not superficial quick fixes. The key outcome of the summit is clear: the Ukrainian conflict was initially provoked to deal Russia a strategic defeat.”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📊🇨🇳 China's economic growth outpaces forecasts, shuts down naysayers

China’s stats for Q2 show it’s on track for 5% growth—a sharp rebuttal to pessimistic foreign narratives.

China's economy stats year-over-year for July 2025 (National Bureau of Statistics)

👉 Industrial production increased by 5.7% year-over-year

👉 Manufacturing activity growth was 6.2%

👉 Mining output growth was at 5.0%

👉 Retail sales—a key gauge of consumer demand—grew 3.7%

👉 Exports rose by 7.2% year-over-year

35 of 41 major manufacturing industries recorded growth, including:

🔶 Automotive (8.5%)

🔶 Computers and communications (10.2%)

🔶 Railway and shipbuilding (13.7%)

🔶 Non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling (6.8%)

🔶 Chemical products (7.2%)

🔶 Oil and gas (4.1%)

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🤝🇹🇷🇭🇺 Lavrov briefs Turkiye and Hungary on Putin-Trump summit

The calls, initiated by Ankara and Budapest, focused on the summit's outcomes and bilateral cooperation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥🛸 Russian UAV strikes destroy Ukrainian MaxxPro armored vehicles

Russian drone crews, supporting assault units, continue their hunt for enemy armored vehicles, disrupting the enemy's fire support, ammunition supply, and rotation activities.

🎯 In a precise operation, the Russian UAV operators successfully identified and destroyed enemy MaxxPro vehicles in motion, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥 Many are concerned about peace in Ukraine — Swedish PM

Warmongering Ulf Kristersson warns Europe against peace, demanding "pressure on Russia" despite diplomatic efforts.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚪 EUROPE BEGS TO GET INTO WASHINGTON SUMMIT

Germany, the UK, and France are rushing to decide on Zelensky's escort for August 18, according to a report by Bild citing government sources.

Trump allowed Europeans to join without sending them an official invitation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨⚡️ EXPLOSIONS HIT YEMENI POWER INFRASTRUCTURE

Blasts reported near power station in Sana'a.

📹 Footage from social media

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💬 Europe marginalized after Putin-Trump summit – expert

European leaders attempted to shape the summit's outcome, but "failed spectacularly," says John Laughland, British professor and director of the International Forum for Democracy.

"Nobody knows, of course, what they really said to each other, but what they have said in public shows, once again that the Europeans have completely marginalized themselves."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Houthis confirm power plant strike in Sanaa

Electricity generators at Sana'a's Haziz station have been destroyed and are fully out of service, according to Yemeni media reports.

The city's civil defense says the fire caused by the attack has been extinguished.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt