Category: 2. World

Russia’s reaction to Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska has been nothing short of jubilant, with Moscow celebrating the fact that the Russian leader met his US counterpart without making concessions and now faces no sanctions despite rejecting Trump’s ceasefire demands.

“The meeting proved that negotiations are possible without preconditions,” wrote former president Dmitry Medvedev on Telegram. He added that the summit showed that talks could continue as Russia wages war in Ukraine.

Trump entered the high-stakes summit warning, “I won’t be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire,” and threatening “severe consequences” if Moscow refused to cooperate.

But after a three-hour meeting with the Russian side that yielded no tangible results, Trump shelved his threats and instead insisted that the meeting was “extremely productive,” even as Putin clung to his maximalist demands for ending the war and announced no concessions on the battlefield, where Russian forces are consolidating key gains in eastern Ukraine.

Putin on Friday demanded Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for ending the war, but offered Trump a freeze along the remaining frontline, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks told the Guardian.

Although Luhansk is almost entirely under Russian control, Ukraine still holds key parts of Donetsk, including the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk and heavily fortified positions whose defence has cost tens of thousands of lives.

Putin told Trump that in exchange for Donetsk and Luhansk, he would halt further advances and freeze the frontline in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russian forces occupy significant areas.

Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy has consistently rejected giving up territory and, on Saturday, European allies reaffirmed that Ukraine’s borders must not be altered through force.

On Saturday morning, Trump also publicly dropped plans for an immediate ceasefire he had himself championed for months, instead embracing Putin’s preferred path to ending the war: pushing through a far-reaching agreement before halting any fighting.

“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

All in all, the view from Moscow is that Putin appears to have gained the upper hand.

“Putin gave Trump nothing, but still got everything he wanted. Trump finally listened to his demands,” said a member of the Russian foreign policy establishment, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In his remarks after the meeting in Alaska, Putin gave little indication of softening his stance, repeating that Moscow wanted the “root causes” of the conflict addressed – Kremlin shorthand for demands to demilitarise Ukraine, restrict its domestic politics and block its path to Nato.

No economic incentives offered by Trump’s team seemed to sway Putin – the economic delegations meeting was even scrapped – with observers stressing he would always prioritise the war in Ukraine over whatever financial gains peace might unlock.

Trump admitted there were still “one or two pretty significant items” left to resolve with Putin, but most worryingly for Kyiv, he ramped up pressure on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity: “Now, it’s really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done.”

These comments were quickly seized upon in Moscow.

“Both sides directly placed responsibility for achieving future results in negotiations on ending military actions on Kyiv and Europe,” Medvedev, now the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, wrote.

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, said: “Trump now appears to be shifting much of the responsibility on to Kyiv and Europe. Ukraine is likely to face increased pressure from the US to begin substantive discussions of Putin’s conditions.”

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She added that Trump was “once again clearly charmed and impressed by his interlocutor”, referring to the warm body language and effusive compliments the US president directed at Putin.

The key question is how far Trump will press Zelenskyy, who is set to meet him in Washington on Monday, to accept a deal on Putin’s terms and whether European allies can once again steer Trump on to a different course.

“Trump clearly did not fully accept the settlement plan that Putin is promoting,” cautioned Stanovaya.

For now, though, confidence runs high in Moscow.

“The tasks of the special military operation will be accomplished either by military or diplomatic means,” wrote senior Russian lawmaker Andrei Klishas on Telegram.

Unfazed by Trump, officials close to Putin felt free to contradict him outright. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, who attended the Alaska meeting with the US leader, said no talks had taken place about a three-way summit between Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump, directly rebutting Trump’s claim to reporters that a meeting was in the works.

Russian state media and the Kremlin elite were already in high spirits as Trump rolled out the red carpet and treated Putin as an equal, despite the Russian leader being wanted by The Hague for war crimes.

“Western media are on the verge of completely losing it,” wrote foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova as Putin landed in Alaska.

“For three years they told everyone Russia was isolated and today they saw a beautiful red carpet laid out for the Russian president in the US,” she added.

On Saturday morning, Russia’s flagship Channel One morning news bulletin highlighted the pomp of the summit, its international visibility, and the warm welcome for Putin, a striking contrast to his isolation by western leaders since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“The red carpet and handshakes … are in all global publications and TV channels,” a presenter cheered, noting it was the first time Trump had met a visiting leader at the airport.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Erin exploded in strength to a Category 5 storm in the Caribbean on Saturday, rapidly powering up from a tropical storm in a single day, the National Hurricane Center said.

Though the compact hurricane’s center wasn’t expected to hit land, it threatened to deliver flooding rains to Puerto Rico and other populated areas as it continued to grow.

Mike Brennen, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Erin had swiftly grown into a “very powerful hurricane,” racing from maximum sustained winds of 100 mph to 160 mph in a mere nine hours.

“We expect to see Erin peak here in intensity relatively soon,” Brennan said in an online briefing.

The first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, Erin ramped up from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in 24 hours. By late Saturday morning, its maximum sustained winds more than doubled to 160 mph.

The U.S. government has deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precaution as forecasters issued a flood watch for the entire U.S. territory from late Friday into Monday.

Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña said 367 shelters had been inspected and could be opened if needed.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that it closed six seaports in Puerto Rico and two in the U.S. Virgin Islands to all incoming vessels unless they had received prior authorization.

The hurricane was 105 miles north of Anguilla at about 11 a.m. Saturday, moving west at 17 mph. The storm’s center was forecast to remain at sea without hitting land, passing north of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Erin was close enough to affect nearby islands. Tropical storm watches were issued for St. Martin, St. Barts and St. Maarten. The National Hurricane Center warned that heavy rain in some areas could trigger flash flooding, landslides and mudslides.

Tropical-storm-force wind gusts are possible in the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeast Bahamas.

Officials in the Bahamas said they prepared some public shelters as a precaution as they urged people to track the hurricane.

“These storms are very volatile and can make sudden shifts in movement,” said Aarone Sargent, managing director for the Bahamian disaster risk management authority.

Though compact in size, with hurricane-force winds extending 30 miles from its center, Erin was expected to double or even triple in size in the coming days, the National Hurricane Center said. That means the storm could create powerful rip currents off parts of the U.S. East Coast next week, even with its eye forecast to remain far offshore.

Protruding U.S. coastal areas — such as North Carolina’s Outer Banks, New York’s Long Island and Cape Cod in Massachusetts — face a higher risk of direct and potentially severe tropical storm or hurricane conditions than much of the southern Atlantic, mid-Atlantic and northern New England coasts, AccuWeather said.

Scientists have linked rapid intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean to climate change. Global warming is causing the atmosphere to hold more water vapor and is raising ocean temperatures. The warmer waters give hurricanes fuel to unleash more rain and strengthen more quickly.

Storms that grow so quickly complicate forecasting for meteorologists and make it harder for government agencies to plan for emergencies. Hurricane Erick, a Pacific storm that made landfall June 19 in Oaxaca, Mexico, also strengthened rapidly, doubling in intensity in less than a day.

Erin is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. It’s the first to become a hurricane.

The 2025 hurricane season is expected to be unusually busy. The forecast calls for six to 10 hurricanes, with three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110 mph.

Coto writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Hurricane Erin underwent rapid intensification, in which a storm strengthens by at least least 34mph in a 24-hour period.

Erin’s winds had intensified from 100mph early in the hours of Saturday morning to 160mph, Mr Brennan said.

Next week, Hurricane Erin is forecast to move gradually northward, past the east of the Bahamas and up towards the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The storm will generate life-threatening surf and rip currents up almost “entire east coast” of the United States next week, said Mr Brennan.

Florida and the mid-Atlantic states will see the most dangerous surf conditions, he said.

Bermuda could also see “life-threatening” surf conditions and heavy rainfall, Mr Brennan added.

Because of gale force winds, the US Coast Guard is imposing restrictions for vessels at ports on the St Thomas and St John in the US Virgin Islands, as well as six municipalities in Puerto Rico, including San Juan.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US government’s primary weather agency, has predicted an “above normal” Atlantic hurricane season this year.

The number of tropical storms that reach category four and five is projected to increase due to global warming.

Hurricane Erin, the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season, could become a Category 5 hurricane, with additional strengthening expected this afternoon, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said on Saturday.

The storm is currently 375 kilometres east-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with maximum sustained winds of 250 kilometres per hour.

Swells generated by Erin will affect portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the Turks and Caicos Islands through the weekend, the NHC said.

The swells will spread to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the east coast of the US early next week, it said.

Erin is expected to produce areas of heavy rainfall through Sunday across the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, the centre said.

Hurricane Erin has intensified into a category 5 storm as it churns its way over the Atlantic, brushing past islands in the north-east Caribbean.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC), in Miami, said on Saturday that Erin – which it described as “catastrophic” – was still not expected to hit land in the US and would swerve away, but forecasters have warned that strong winds and heavy rain could cause flooding and landslides on nearby islands.

At the time of publication, the storm was 105 miles (170km) north-east of Anguilla, recording maximum wind speeds of 160mph (255km/h). It was moving west at 17mph (27km/h) and was expected to pass near the Leeward Islands on Saturday, bringing 2-4in (5-10cm) of rain to some areas, with up to 6in (15cm) in the heaviest downpours.

The storm’s outer bands of rain were beginning to affect some islands, and more rain was expected on Sunday, NHC forecasters said.

“Swells generated by Erin will affect portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the Turks and Caicos Islands through the weekend,” the NHC said.

The swells would spread to the Bahamas, Bermuda and along the east coast of the US early next week, it said, warning of rough ocean conditions and “life-threatening” rip currents.

The winds had more than doubled in speed in the past 24 hours, from a 70mph tropical storm on Friday to a 145mph category 4 on Saturday.

Tropical storm watches were in place for the northern Leeward Islands of St Martin, St Barts, Anguilla and Barbuda, with rainy conditions possible there for the next 48 hours.

Erin is the first major Atlantic hurricane of the 2025 season and is expected to strengthen as it passes over warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures. A major hurricane is one that reaches at least category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

“By the middle of next week, Erin is forecast to at least double or triple in size, which will result in rough ocean conditions over the western Atlantic,” the NHC said.

This rapid intensification is happening more frequently as global temperatures rise due to global heating.

The US government has deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precaution. Forecasters issued a flood watch for the entirety of Puerto Rico – a US territory – from late Friday into Monday.

Puerto Rico’s housing secretary, Ciary Pérez Peña, said 367 shelters have been inspected and could be opened if needed.

The US coast guard said on Friday that it closed six seaports in Puerto Rico and two in the US Virgin Islands to all incoming vessels unless they had received prior authorization.

Meanwhile, officials in the Bahamas said they prepared some public shelters as a precaution as they urged people to track the hurricane.

“These storms are very volatile and can make sudden shifts in movement,” said Aarone Sargent, managing director for the Bahamas’ disaster risk management authority.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Donald Trump will host President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Washington on Monday after the US president abandoned his push for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin again insisted that Kyiv give up land in peace talks.

Trump told the Ukrainian president and European leaders in a call that Putin wants Kyiv to cede control of the entire Donbas region in Ukraine’s east, renewing his longstanding demand, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition on anonymity.