NewsHour

Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, says Vladimir Putin has agreed to 'robust' security guarantees for Ukraine. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has welcomed the US offer - we'll get more details about what was discussed at the summit in Alaska.

Also in the programme: the robots that imitate athletes; and we look back on the life of the English actor Terence Stamp, who has died aged 87.

(Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference in Brussels; 17 August 2025. Credit: OLIVIER HOSLET/EPA/Shutterstock)

What next for Ukraine? EU leaders have said they intend to travel to Washington as President Zelensky prepares for talks with Trump.

Also in the programme: Hostage families have called a general strike in Israel; and the great Mayan forest and efforts to save it.

(Photograph: President Zelensky and Ursula Von der Leyen in Brussels. Credit: Shutterstock)

Vladimir Putin has reportedly demanded a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in exchange for a freezing of front lines elsewhere. The Russian president made the demand during Friday's meeting with President Trump in Alaska, according to sources involved in the talks. We speak to Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Also in the programme: Environmentalists have welcomed a deal signed by Mexico, Belize and Guatemala to protect the second large rainforest in the Americas; and are mangoes good for diabetes?

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

Donald Trump has said he, along with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, have determined that a peace agreement was preferable to a ceasefire in the conflict between the two warring nations.

The announcement comes after Mr Trump's high-profile summit in Alaska with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin ended without an agreement.

We'll hear a Ukrainian response to the sight of President Putin being given a red carpet welcome in Alaska and get reaction fom the foreign minister of the Czech Republic.

Also in the programme: Violent clashes erupt in Serbia's capital after demonstrations by pro-government and anti-corruption groups; and we mark 80 years since the publication of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

(Photo shows US.president Donald Trump at a press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska,on 15th August 2025. Jeenah Moon/Reuters)

The world’s media watches as the presidents of Russia and the USA meet in Alaska. Russian officials say they want to discuss broad US-Russian relations, but on Air Force One President Trump said he wanted to focus on Ukraine.

Also on the programme: we hear from an Indian soldier who saw the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and the people trying to crack an unsolved code sitting right outside the CIA’s headquarters.

(IMAGE: Trump and Putin meet in Anchorage, Alaska, 15 August CREDIT: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Can Donald Trump strike a deal with Vladimir Putin in Alaska today and get a ceasefire in Ukraine - and if so, on what terms? President Trump has previously spoken of 'land swaps' but Kyiv has already rejected the idea. We hear from a teenager who lived under Russian occupation in the Donbas for 10 years, and recently escaped.

Also in the programme: the world marks 80 years since Japan surrendered, ending World War Two; and as talks on a global plastics treaty collapse – again – is there any hope countries can ever agree?

(IMAGE: U.S. President Donald Trump waves while boarding Air Force One, as he departs for Alaska to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2025 / CREDIT: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

There's been fierce international criticism of Israeli plans to build more than three-thousand homes in a controversial settlement in the occupied West Bank. The country's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the move - which will split the territory - will "bury the idea of a Palestinian state". Britain's foreign secretary, David Lammy, described the plan as a "flagrant breach of international law" that "must be stopped".

Also in the programme: Humanitarian workers in Sudan say they lack the resources to deal with a deadly cholera outbreak in camps for people displaced by the civil war; what sort of welcome are Alaskans preparing for President Putin; and why are some female Australian birds developing male sex organs.

(Photo: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)

Ahead of the Trump / Putin meeting in Alaska, we ask what's happened to Ukraine's missing children? Ukraine says thousands have been taken by Russian forces - many indoctrinated in Russian military schools – and some are now fighting on the frontline against their home country.

Also in the programme: what are Israelis now thinking and saying about the war in Gaza – and how well informed are people about the conflict? Plus the good news that medication for ADHD may also reduce suicidal behaviours and substance misuse, and even make people less likely to have transport accidents and commit crime.

(IMAGE: Children's handprints decorate the wall of the culture centre of the Ukrainian frontline village of Kalynove, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, April 11, 2025 / CREDIT: REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura)

The US president reportedly told European leaders that his goal for the summit was to secure a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow. Poland's president, Karol Nawrocki, was one of the Nato leaders on the call with the Donald Trump. We'll hear from his foreign policy advisor, Marcin Przydacz.

Also on the programme: Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun has warned against foreign interference in the country’s affairs during a visit by a senior Iranian official, as his government takes steps towards disarming Hezbollah; and we'll hear about one project in Australia that's hoping to ease the world's rare earth bottleneck.

(Photo: US President Donald Trump delivers a speech as he hosts an event at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, in Washington, DC, USA, 13 August 2025. Credit: WILL OLIVER/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock)

European leaders are holding talks with Ukraine's President Zelensky ahead of a Trump-Putin summit on Friday. We hear about the latest developments on the frontline in Ukraine.

Also in the programme: Will a $5m bounty help capture Haiti's most powerful gang leader? And how toothpaste made from hair could help repair teeth.

(Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (R) attend an online meeting with other European leaders to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, 13 August 2025. Credit: John Macdougall/Pool/ EPA/Shutterstock)