TOP HEADLINES

• The Kremlin releases details of Friday's Alaska summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. READ MORE BELOW

• Kremlin aide says Putin and Trump will discuss the "huge untapped potential" for Russia-U.S. economic ties as well as the prospects for ending the conflict in Ukraine. READ MORE BELOW

• Trump threatens "severe consequences" if Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine but also says a second meeting that would include Zelenskyy could follow shortly. READ MORE BELOW

• The Ukrainian President also demands that Russia should face new sanctions if it does not agree to an "immediate ceasefire".  READ MORE BELOW

• In unconfirmed reports, NBC reports that Trump told Zelenskyy that no territorial divisions will be discussed with Putin. 

• French President Emmanuel Macron says Trump expressed a willingness to European leaders to give Ukraine security guarantees to end the conflict.

• Russia says its forces have captured two settlements in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Ukrainian drones struck two Russian cities and a Russian refinery in the Volgograd region overnight. READ MORE BELOW

• Zelenskyy meets British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, to take stock ahead of the Trump-Putin talks.

• Zelenskyy says Ukraine has secured $1.5 billion in U.S. weapons purchased by European allies.

IN DETAIL

Putin and Trump to discuss 'potential'

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will discuss the "huge untapped potential" for Russia-U.S. economic ties as well as the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine when they meet in Alaska on Friday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Ushakov told reporters that the summit would start at 1930 GMT, with the two leaders meeting one-on-one, accompanied only by translators.

He said delegations from the two countries would then meet, and the presidents would give a joint news conference.

This would be the first joint press conference between a U.S. and Russian leader since 2018, when Putin met Trump in Helsinki.

Among Russia's Anchorage delegation will be Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, Ushakov added.

Trump suggests possible three-way follow-up

Trump threatened "severe consequences" if Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine but also said on Wednesday that a meeting between them could swiftly be followed by a second that would include the leader of Ukraine.

Trump did not specify what the consequences could be, but he has warned of economic sanctions if his meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday proves fruitless.

Trump described the aim of his talks with Putin in Alaska as "setting the table" for a quick follow-up that would include Zelenskyy.

"If the first one goes okay, we'll have a quick second one," Trump said.

"I would like to do it almost immediately, and we'll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they'd like to have me there."

The comments by Trump and the outcome of a virtual conference with Trump, European leaders and Zelenskyy held on Wednesday could provide encouragement for Kyiv after fears the Alaska summit could end up selling out Ukraine by carving up its territory.

However, Russia is likely to resist Ukraine and Europe's demands strongly and previously has said its stance had not changed since it was first detailed by Putin in June 2024.

When asked if Russia would face any consequences if Putin does not agree to stop the conflict after Friday's meeting, Trump responded: "Yes, they will."

Asked if those consequences would be sanctions or tariffs, Trump told reporters: "I don't have to say. There will be very severe consequences."

European leaders and Zelenskyy had earlier spoken with Trump in a last-ditch call hosted by Germany to lay out red lines ahead of the Alaska meeting.

"We had a very good call. He was on the call. President Zelenskyy was on the call. I would rate it a 10, very friendly," Trump said.

Zelenskyy said that Russia should face new sanctions if it does not agree to an "immediate ceasefire" at the summit.

"We hope that the central topic at the meeting will be a ceasefire. An immediate ceasefire," Zelenskyy said after his call with Trump and European leaders.

"Sanctions must be in place and must be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire," Zelenskyy added, speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin.

"I have told my colleagues, the U.S. president, and our European friends, that Putin definitely does not want peace," Zelenskyy said.

He also said that Russia was "trying to put pressure on all parts of the Ukrainian front ahead of the meeting in Alaska".

Attacks continue

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Russian forces had captured the settlements of Scherbynivka and Andriivka-Klevtsove in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian military said on Thursday its drones hit a Russian refinery in the Volgograd region overnight, causing huge fires.

It said the plant was supplying the Russian military.

Ukrainian drones also struck two Russian cities on Thursday in attacks that injured at least 16 people, local authorities said, a day before a U.S.-Russia summit on the war in Ukraine.

Thirteen people were wounded, two seriously, when a drone struck an apartment building in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the acting regional governor said.

Three civilians were wounded in the city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, according to the governor of that region, who posted video appearing to show a drone striking a car in the centre of the city.