U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he intends to hold fresh talks on the conflict in Ukraine in the coming days, after his August summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska failed to produce progress.
Trump has expressed frustration at not being able to end the fighting, which began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He had initially predicted he could bring the conflict to a close quickly after taking office in January last year.
The White House said Trump is expected to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by phone on Thursday. The French presidency added that several European leaders, including Zelenskiy and French President Emmanuel Macron, will join a call with Trump later the same day. The conversation is expected to follow a mostly virtual meeting of around 30 countries, hosted by France, on security support for Ukraine once a peace deal with Russia is reached. European leaders are also expected to criticise Moscow’s refusal to engage in negotiations.
Putin has shown little interest in ending the war, despite both leaders striking an optimistic tone during their August 15 meeting in Anchorage. “I have no message to President Putin,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the White House. “He knows where I stand and he’ll make a decision one way or another. Whatever his decision is, we’ll either be happy about it or unhappy about it, and if we’re unhappy, you’ll see things happen,” he said, without elaborating.
Trump added that while he still believed the conflict would eventually be resolved “one way or the other,” he admitted he underestimated the difficulty of achieving peace. “I thought that would be much easier,” he said. “I thought that would be in the middle of the pack, maybe one of the easiest. Sometimes you never know with war.”
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The collective-defence agreement between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signals that regional powers no longer want to rely solely on external security guarantees. Whether it becomes a stabilising deterrent or another axis of rivalry remains unresolved.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed, according to the latest data, as uncertainty over the waterway’s reopening kept most shipowners away. Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from nine the day before and below the 10-day daily average of 11.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the conflict remained stalled. Nine commodity vessels transited the key waterway on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data.
Iran has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. fulfils the terms of an interim deal, including lifting the maritime blockade and sanctions and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 19th of August, covering the latest developments.
Australia on Thursday condemned Israel’s decision to close its criminal investigation into the deaths of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six World Central Kitchen colleagues killed in Gaza in April 2024.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the conflict remained stalled. Nine commodity vessels transited the key waterway on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data.
North Korea has fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles after U.S. President Donald Trump reduced American participation in joint military exercises with South Korea in an effort to revive dialogue with Pyongyang.
Georgia’s foreign trade data for January-July 2026 shows Kyrgyzstan, China and Russia as its top three export markets, highlighting its Middle Corridor ambitions and complex economic ties with Moscow.
Kazakhstan will vote on 23 August in its first parliamentary election under the new Constitution, choosing 145 members of the new Kurultai under a fundamentally changed electoral system based entirely on party lists.
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