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Trump, Putin End Summit With Talk of Progress But No Deal; Air Canada Flight Attendants Go On Strike. Aired 1-2 am ET

Aired August 16, 2025 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[01:00:36]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Sciutto, live once again here in Anchorage, Alaska.

Despite no deal, no decision on a ceasefire in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump is giving Friday's meeting here with Russian President Vladimir Putin high marks. Not clear based on what. Both men characterized the summit as positive, spoke of progress. After the summit, President Trump told "Fox News" he agreed with Putin that the war will end with swapping territory. Keep in mind, all the territory we're talking about here was occupied by Russia by force. He said the next move is now up to Ukraine and the Ukrainian president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: You know, one or two pretty significant items, but I think they can be reached. Now, it's really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit. But it's up to President Zelenskyy. I think we -- we are. And if they'd like, I'll be at that next meeting. They're going to set up a meeting now between President Zelenskyy and President Putin. And myself, I guess, you know, I didn't even -- I didn't ask you about it. And not that I want to be there, but I want to make sure it gets done. And we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That's not what President Trump said prior to the summit. President Trump said prior he was going to make peace, get a ceasefire done. No one outside the meeting between those two men knows exactly what they discussed on Friday. They did not reveal it at a joint news briefing after the summit. Crucially, though they had planned to prior, they didn't take any questions from reporters.

In a break with tradition as well, Putin delivered his remarks first instead of the U.S. president, who is, of course, the host here in Alaska. The Russian leader said, in his view, the primary causes of the conflict must be eliminated for the fighting to end. Of course, Russia has its own view as to what those causes are. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive all this in a constructive manner and will not create any obstacles. We'll not make attempts to disrupt the emerging progress through provocations and behind-the- scenes intrigues.

SCIUTTO: Provocations, of course, no acknowledgment there from the Russian president that it is Russia that invaded Ukraine in the first place, twice, in fact. Notable moment came, as you're seeing there, when Trump gave Putin a ride in the back of his limo, the beast. You can see Putin there with a big smile on his face as he rode away from the tarmac there just after they arrived.

The Kremlin shared this behind-the-scenes moment of the two leaders speaking on Friday. You can see the president, President Trump, smiling there, perhaps engaged in some small talk with one translator president. Trump later told "Fox News" that he will hold off for now on new sanctions, the severe consequences that he himself promised against Russia just prior to the summit.

At one point, Trump -- Putin rather, suggested that the next meeting between the new two men might take place in Moscow. Trump said, well, he might take some heat for that, in his words. He did not, however, rule it out.

CNN's Clare Sebastian has been in London monitoring the Russian reaction to the summit here in Anchorage. First though, our Ben Wedeman is in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

I wonder, Ben, prior to -- to the summit, I heard from Ukrainian contacts some worry that Trump might sell them up the river here, might attempt to reach a deal with Putin without Ukraine's input. That didn't happen.

On the other hand, though, President Trump now seems to be moving the goalposts as to who is responsible for peace moving forward. What reaction have you been hearing there in Kyiv?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The reaction has been generally negative or, at best, cautious to this summit. Now, what's significant is we have yet to hear from President Zelenskyy. I think that after his meeting earlier this year that went very badly in the Oval Office with President Trump, he's treading carefully, well aware that this is a very touchy, sensitive, thin-skinned American president and any sort of negative comment could have very bad consequences.

[01:05:13]

But unofficially, what we're hearing is a lot of disappointment. "The Kyiv Independent," a newspaper here, has a headline in its editorial that says that meeting was sickening. Putin loved it. Further down in that editorial, it once again describes the summit as sickening, shameful and in the end, useless.

So, disappointment and a certain amount of alarm as well at this summit. We did hear President Trump in that interview with Sean Hannity on Fox saying a lot of points were negotiated on behalf of Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine does not want Trump or anybody else to negotiate on its behalf. It would like to negotiate itself.

Now, we'll see if there is some sort of follow-up meeting, trilateral, involving Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy. But at this point, no one is putting a lot of hope in that.

And in the meantime, of course, we understand that hostilities continue. The war did not end. There was no ceasefire, which was sort of the minimum request or desire of many Ukrainians. No truce even of 24 to 48 hours.

So, it appears that the onus is once more upon Ukraine to somehow agree to something. We don't know what came out of this summit. And I think, you know, in the coming hours, as the White House typically leaks information, we'll have a better idea of the contents of the discussions. What were points of substance agreed upon?

We did hear yet again in that rather interesting interview with Fox, President Trump talking about land swaps. Land swaps is something Ukraine has as a negotiating position made clear it is opposed to because there is no land to swap. As you mentioned, Jim, in the introduction, Ukraine is not occupying Russian land. It's Russia occupying Ukrainian land. And it was Russia, not Ukraine, that invaded this country. And therefore, one would think the onus is on the invader, not the country invaded, to make concessions.

But it does appear that black is white and white is black. And this meeting, as "The Kyiv Independent" pointed out, doesn't seem to have come up with anything. If anything, it seems that we're back in this territory where President Trump clearly sides with the Russian leader against this country.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, you know, to the point of those land swaps, I spoke to a Ukrainian lawmaker earlier in the day, Halyna Yanchenko, who said that when speaking about trading territory, you're actually speaking about trading people, in her words, because people live on that land. The Ukrainian civilians live on that land and they're the ones who would face the consequences of such land swaps.

So, Clare Sebastian -- so, here you have Ben Wedeman there in Kyiv hearing quite negative interpretations of the outcome of this talk in the Ukrainian media and other public comments. Sounds like Russia is seeing this as a win.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, very much the opposite, Jim. We're getting mostly positive spin or at worst, cautious. There is some, I should note, suspending of judgment given the lack of detail that we have coming out of this summit.

But overall, it's an overwhelmingly positive reaction because, look, number one, there were no -- there was none of the severe consequences that Trump had floated ahead of this. No new sanctions. He said, you know, he will wait at least two or three weeks to -- to think about that.

And of course, that was really, I think, for Russia. The reason why this meeting was so urgent was because they were facing the imminent threat of new secondary sanctions on their biggest oil customers. So that, number one, has been achieved. No ceasefire, which buys them time to continue, as they put it, to pursue their goals in Ukraine.

And take a look at what Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said to state media off the back of this. He said the conversation is really very positive. The two presidents spoke about it. This is the very conversation that allows us to confidently continue moving forward together on the path of seeking resolution options.

Moving forward together, I think, highlights another key goal for Russia in this, and that is to continue to pursue the reset in relations with the U.S. You'll remember in the weeks leading up to this summit, Trump's rhetoric on Russia had somewhat soured. You know, he continued to criticize Putin for killing Ukrainian civilians while making positive noises about pursuing peace.

[01:10:00]

So, I think Russians feel at this point that they have managed to wrestle the narrative back. And we hear -- we had this morning from the ambassador to Washington, the Russian ambassador to Washington, Alexander Darchiev, who said that documents have been passed to the U.S. side on the restoration of direct flights. So, you know, I think optimism from that side, though, of course, restoring direct flights would mean by its very nature passed to the U.S. side on the restoration of direct flights. So, you know, I think optimism from that side, though, of course, restoring direct flights would mean by its very nature lifting sanctions. And we haven't had any promise of that as of yet.

And, of course, it would mean buy in from the European side. And no sense that they would go that far either. So, overwhelmingly positive. The propaganda value is very clear. These optics matter a lot because, of course, this war has had a very heavy cost in Russia. And so any opportunity for Putin like this to burnish his image at home, extremely welcome.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: He looked very much like a Russian leader welcomed back in from the diplomatic cold by the U.S. president here.

Ben Wedeman in Kyiv. Please stay safe. Clare Sebastian, London. Thanks so much.

Well, we're joined now also from Kyiv by Tymofiy Mylovanov. He's the president of the Kyiv School of Economics, also a former Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development and Trade.

Tymofiy, good to speak to you once again. So, tell us, as you look at the outcome of this summit here in Alaska, what's your read? Was anything achieved? TYMOFIY MYLOVANOV, PRESIDENT, KYIV SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, so I think this is a meeting which is at least at this moment has not achieved anything except given Putin indeed a propaganda win, a narrative win. It also makes look the United States strategically weak. If you zoom out from the specifics of the current administration, we basically have a Russian president who upended the security in -- in Europe and so far hasn't made any concession, hasn't made any welcoming step, hasn't paid, you know, any price, at least recently.

And what is happening is that he's being welcomed. Sanctions are not being imposed and there's no clear line that there'll be any real cost. And we do not have any real step forward towards settlement. So, that's how it looks from my side, from Kyiv right now. And it is very disappointing.

SCIUTTO: When I heard President Trump say in his interview with "Fox News" following the summit that now it is up to Ukraine and now it is up to Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate and make peace, that Trump was to some degree passing the baton, saying it's no longer my responsibility. Ukraine, it's yours.

MYLOVANOV: Yeah, indeed, this is a little bit like, OK, I'm going to negotiate on your behalf and I'm not going to take responsibility for what I'm doing, but you will have to accept the results and it will be your responsibility and your fault and your leadership in the end.

So, you know, this is a little bit unfair to put it diplomatically and strange, but I also can venture a guess what's behind those words in practice. I think Russia really wants to get Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. This is the remaining part of Donetsk that they have been fighting for so hard. And this is perhaps the most fortified area in Ukraine. And I think that's what Russia wants to get. And it might be a condition that Ukraine surrenders that.

Now, if Ukraine surrenders that, then Russia can move forward any time towards new areas and new regions like Dnipro, for example, because there's basically a flat surface which is very difficult to defend and not fortified. So, Russia is probably being very strategic, trying to remove one of the key obstacles for them to move forward in Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: There has been some movement on the front lines of the battlefield, and there was one break in the lines where some Russian forces moved forward, although my understanding is that then Ukrainian forces might have been able to cut off some of those advancing Russian forces. What is your best read of the situation on the front lines? Is it slow but gradual Russian progress?

[01:15:03]

MYLOVANOV: So, yeah, indeed, the situation is murky. In fact, I've been too, you know, close to not that area, but some other areas recently in the recent days and spoke to the military. Russia continues to advance in some areas. It's very uneven. And in most areas, there is no real advance or at all in that area around Donetsk or the remaining part of the next region. Indeed, there has been a breakthrough, but that breakthrough was

several hundred infantry getting through in one sort of pincer move. And that has been stamped yesterday. According to a battalion, they have killed over 200 Russian soldiers, wounded 300 -- sorry, 100 and about 20 are captured. So, this is a little bit -- you know, this is very boring, but it is more of theatrics and narrative support towards Alaska meeting rather than the real breakthrough on the front lines.

SCIUTTO: So, let me ask you, what is Ukraine's move now? If -- if Putin doesn't appear serious about peace, that he wants to just kick the can down the road, if Trump is not applying any new real pressure on Russia and if Ukraine is facing some losses on the battlefield, what does it do now and does it have the backing its needs perhaps from Europe alone to defend itself?

MYLOVANOV: Yeah, that's -- that's the question. So, the morale of troops or military appears to be higher, in fact, than morale of some civilians in the rear. So, that creates also political pressure on President Zelenskyy.

So, President Zelenskyy is in a very tough leadership position right now. And I think, well, I know him reasonably well. Personally, I know his character and, you know, I know how he recently has been, you know, reflecting on this.

I think he will be careful, diplomatic, cautious with respect to the U.S. administration, President Trump. But he will continue to insist that no strategic moves that hurt Ukraine will be made. So, basically, he will be politely rejecting those proposals if those are traps and captures from Russia.

What it will mean that indeed Ukraine will probably have to rely more on Europe and wait for Russia to again prove to President Trump that Russia is not serious about ceasefire or peace.

SCIUTTO: Tymofiy Mylovanov, thanks so much for joining -- joining and please do stay safe in Kyiv as the war -- as the war continues there.

Vladimir Putin lays out his conditions, quite familiar ones for ending the war in Ukraine. What does the Russian president want? Has it changed at all? Reaction from European officials. More on that when we come back.

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[01:22:12]

SCIUTTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested his next meeting with Donald Trump could be in Moscow. Trump -- Putin rather, brought up the Russian capital during Friday's talks here in Anchorage, Alaska. He made that proposal, notably in English, which the Kremlin says he understands quite well. President Trump acknowledged he might take some heat for going to Moscow to meet with Putin, but he didn't say no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Again, Mr. President, I'd like to thank you very much and we'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much, Vladimir.

PUTIN: Next time in Moscow.

TRUMP: Oh, that's an interesting one. I don't know. I'll get a little heat on that one, but I -- I could see it possibly happening.

Thank you very much, Vladimir. And thank you all. Thank you. Thank you.

PUTIN: Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Thank you so much. No questions from reporters there, note that. European leaders reacted with skepticism to this U.S.-Russia summit here in Alaska. Lithuania's Defense Minister accused the Russian president of, quote, "more gaslighting and veiled threats." That was a reference to Putin's warning to Europe and Ukraine not to, in his words, sabotage the supposed progress made at the summit.

The Czech Foreign Minister said, quote, if Putin were serious about negotiating peace, he would not have been attacking Ukraine today. And those attacks did continue today.

For a European perspective on the summit, joined now from Stockholm by Carl Bildt. He's a former Swedish Prime Minister, currently co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Carl, thanks so much for joining this morning. Your time.

CARL BILDT, CO-CHAIR, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Good morning.

SCIUTTO: So, in your view, was this summit a failure?

BILDT: Well, it was distinctly a win for Vladimir Putin. No question about that. He went to Alaska fearing that he would be under severe American pressure to achieve a ceasefire. Doesn't seem to have been anything of that sort. He left without any ceasefire in sight, without having given an inch on anything, as we can understand, and having sort of a distinct improvement in his international standing.

While for America, for Mr. Trump, we don't know where U.S. policy is going to be a couple of weeks from now. But I mean, what the world sees at the moment is a weak and wobbling America confronting with a Russia that is determined. That is not a good outcome. The best that can be said about the meeting from the European point of view is that it could have been even worse. But that is not the standards by these things should be really measured.

[01:25:01]

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you a question, then, because President Trump projects power. He claims power. And yet consistently, it seems he gets played by his Russian counterpart. Why does President Trump allow that?

BILDT: Well, that's a very good question. I think essentially Trump went into this entire thing with very, very naive perceptions, this 24 hours and have an immediate ceasefire. And it was evidently without any basic knowledge of the conflict, without any basic knowledge of Russia, without any basic experience of how you do these things.

And then we've seen his policies wobbling back and forth. I mean, he's saying it threatens this thing and threatened those things. It doesn't do this thing.

And then -- I mean, there's no been no way of sort of knowing where he's heading. No strategy, no clear line. And that has made it fairly easy from that point of view for Mr. Putin to play him and to sort of wear off or avoid the different points of pressure now then by being nice and talking and things like that.

So, it's a -- it's a depressing picture, not only for the fact that we don't have an end to the war in Ukraine, we don't have a ceasefire, which we hoped for, but also we have a weak America.

SCIUTTO: So, what happens now? I wonder, because prior to the summit, there'd been some hope that Trump's view of Putin was changing. His patience was running out. And Trump said that himself. And I wonder what Europe does now, what Ukraine does now. Are they more likely to be out on their own?

BILDT: Well, Ukraine is not on their own because they have the solid support of nearly all of the Europeans. And what has been happening is, of course, the Americans have been cutting back on their support. Whether that will change remains to be seen.

I mean, Trump is now saying that he will think a couple of weeks of if there are going to be any sanctions, any whatever of the sort of -- the sort of things that he was threatening us a couple of days ago.

No one expects very much to come out of the thinking process of Mr. Trump by now, because we heard that before. But for the Europeans, continued support to Ukraine, the defense of Ukraine is the defense of Europe. And that recognition is solid on the captains of Europe. It's going to be costly, but freedom and security comes at a price.

SCIUTTO: But can they do it on their own? Can Ukraine and Europe together defend Ukraine effectively on their own, either without U.S. support or with dwindling U.S. support?

BILDT: Well, most of the support, except kind of sort of key, some key components have been coming from -- from Europe for quite some time. And what has been achieved by the Ukrainians themselves in building up their capabilities in the last two years has always been very impressive.

So, I think if that is the case, of course, it would have been a much quicker way to an end of this war if the Americans were with us in helping to support Ukraine. The fact that the U.S. is wobbling and America is weak prolongs the war and increasing the cost primarily for the Ukrainians. They are the ones dying. And then for the Europeans who are sustaining and paying. But I think it can be done. But with America on board, we could end the war much quicker. But that's not the case, obviously.

SCIUTTO: Carl Bildt joining us from Sweden. Thanks so much for joining.

BILDT: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, Russian media is praising Vladimir Putin's performance at the summit. Just ahead, a report from Moscow to explain why people there are calling it a win for the Russian leader.

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[01:32:43]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Russian Media): Here it is, one can say already, a historic handshake. I think that soon we will find out what Vladimir Putin said to Donald Trump at the meeting. It's quite interesting. But we see that the U.S. president, as he basically said before, is extremely friendly toward Putin. Which is confirmed by this personal meeting at the airport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That was the Russian media describing President Trump and Putin meeting. There, as you see, on the tarmac, on those red carpets here in Anchorage, Alaska. After the summit, Trump gave the meeting. High marks in his view. But, as far as we know, as far as has been revealed, the two sides achieved nothing. Concrete.

CNN Anchor and Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It was notable. As we were abruptly assembled, I should note, we were kind of waiting around to see if they were going to go from that smaller meeting to the larger meeting. They told the press, take their seats.

We saw, as the Russian delegation filtered in, the U.S. delegation. I just want to tell you what it was like inside the room. Because it seemed to give indications, even before Trump and Putin got on stage, that no deal had been reached.

We saw Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, who's met with Putin many times, come into the room. He took his seat. Moments later, he zipped back out and then came back into the room.

Then we saw the Commerce Secretary, the Treasury Secretary, the Secretary of State come in the room, the press secretary even. None of them were really smiling or jovial, as we typically have seen them at times. And then the president himself entered with President Putin.

And at one point, I flashed a thumbs up to Trump to kind of signal to see how did he think the meeting went as Putin was -- was giving his opening remarks. He kind of shrugged his shoulders and looked at me. And so you saw those brief remarks from each of them.

They only spoke for a few minutes, which for people who have covered Putin or Trump know that is not very characteristic of either of them. And when those remarks, as soon as they got off, it was very clear they had not reached an agreement on anything. They both said that progress had been made. They didn't specify on what.

Trump himself said no deal had been made after Putin had alluded to some kind of an agreement but was quite vague and didn't really offer any details. And the one thing that was clear as Trump turned to Putin and thanked him, and it seemed to maybe be like he was going to usher him out of the room.

[01:35:02]

And then they both decided to leave and not take any questions from the hundreds of reporters, both U.S. and Russian, who were assembled here, that they had not reached an agreement on what Trump came here to get an agreement on. And that was a ceasefire itself. As he was on the way here, he told reporters he had been told it was unlikely to get a ceasefire.

He would personally be unhappy if they didn't reach one. And they certainly didn't. So, it raises real questions about what the future of this is going to be. And Trump had been warning of severe consequences if they had not reached any agreement. That remains to be seen, obviously, if he decides to move forward with that.

But he didn't seem unhappy. He didn't seem mad. But he certainly didn't have anything to tout from that three-hour, nearly, meeting that he had with the Russian president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our Kaitlan Collins there inside the room where the presidents met. Russian media had a field day with the images of Putin receiving the red-carpet treatment, literally, as he arrived here in Anchorage. He has been a diplomatic pariah in the West since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In fact, he's facing an arrest warrant from the International Court of Justice over suspected war crimes in Ukraine. Russia has rejected those accusations.

From Moscow, CNN's Fred Pleitgen gives us a look at how Putin's day played out back home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As you can imagine, the Russian state media are pretty happy with the outcome so far. One of the things that's getting played again and again and again is President Trump saying that there could be a follow-up summit and President Putin then saying next time in Moscow. That certainly is something that the Russian press is sort of zeroing in on, generally saying that they believe that the meeting went very well for Vladimir Putin, obviously outlining the fact that Vladimir Putin does not appear to have made substantial concessions to the U.S. president, certainly not towards any sort of ceasefire that might be imminent.

The fact that the Russian president spoke about the root causes of the conflict and that those need to be addressed, Russia's security concerns as well, that's the exact same rhetoric that we've actually been hearing from Vladimir Putin since the beginning of the full-on invasion of Ukraine.

And looking at how this evening unfolded, certainly if you see some of the Russian officials that we've sort of been monitoring that have been talking about this, like, for instance, the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, she said, look, people have been saying for the last three years that Russia is completely isolated and now they're seeing President Trump roll out the red carpet for the Russian president on U.S. territory, then saying that the U.S. media was going crazy about all this.

So, certainly the Russians right now treating this as a positive outcome for Vladimir Putin. It was quite interesting to hear because the Russian media actually did speak to some Russian officials that then came out of those meetings and the Russian ambassador to the United States talked about a positive atmosphere.

The Russian defense minister said that he was very upbeat after hearing about the meeting. So, generally, it seems as though in the Russian delegation, the mood is quite positive. But here as well, no one really knows what the agreements are that allegedly were put in place by these two leaders, that were agreed upon by these two leaders. But the mood definitely on the ground here in Russia, in Russian media, and it seems also in the Russian delegation, seems to be a very positive one.

SCIUTTO: Our Fred Pleitgen there with a reaction from Moscow? Well, Trump's former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, and my colleague Fareed Zakaria, both agreed in their view, the summit was not a complete loss for President Trump. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think Trump did not lose, but Putin clearly won. Trump didn't come away with anything except more meetings. Putin has, I think, gone a long way to reestablishing the relationship, which I've always believed was his key goal. He has escaped sanctions. He's not facing a ceasefire. The next meeting is not set.

Zelenskyy was not told any of this before this press conference. It's far from over. But I'd say Putin achieved most of what he wanted. Trump achieved very little.

And I will say one other thing. I thought Trump looked very tired up there. I mean very tired, not disappointed, tired. And we'll have to reflect on what that means.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: It wasn't a disaster. And, again, I will give Donald Trump credit for this, that presumably Putin stuck to his guns and Trump didn't concede. It's possible there is some framework that was discussed that he now needs to take to the Ukrainians and the Europeans.

But Donald Trump tends to be fairly indiscreet. So, if there is such a framework, if anything substantive was agreed on, we will know in the next hour. It is inconceivable to me that Trump will be able to keep that quiet.

He will -- he will feel the urge to boast. So, the fact that, at least so far, we haven't heard much leads me to -- to your conclusion, that, you know, really, at the end of the day, there's nothing to show for.

[01:40:02]

The entire way that Trump has handled these negotiations from the start has been to make preemptive concessions to the Russians before the negotiations began.

Remember, what are Putin's main demands? He wants to keep all of Ukraine that he has conquered. In fact, he wants a bit more. Trump initially basically conceded that, as well. He wanted a guarantee that Ukraine will not be a member of NATO. Trump has said that's going to happen.

He wanted to be sure there would be no American troops on Ukrainian soil. Trump has said that. Then he gives him the summit in the U.S. The next thing would be to give him a summit where he can play host and peacemaker.

But we've gotten nothing back from Putin. It's been a series of unilateral concessions to Putin, and it's not clear yet what -- what the United States, the West, is getting. So, I'm all for making a deal. I'm all for compromise. I'm all for ending the war. But the strategy of preemptive concessions to Vladimir Putin has never worked in the past and is unlikely to work now.

What we need is pressure on Putin, military pressure through military aid to Ukraine. That's what will get his attention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: And yet no more of that today. Our thanks to Fareed Zakaria there. While in Alaska, Putin paid his respects to Soviet service members laid to rest here from the Second World War. He laid flowers at their gravestones here in Anchorage on Friday following his talks with President Trump. Those pilots and sailors killed, ferrying equipment from the U.S. to the former Soviet Union during World War II. I'm Jim Sciutto. That does it for me here in Anchorage, Alaska. We do

have much more, though, ahead on CNN Newsroom with my colleague Ben Hunte in Atlanta. Ben, over to you.

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Jim.

Yes, so much more still to come on CNN Newsroom, including the first hurricane of the season is here, and it's one that's quickly gathering intensity. How strong Hurricane Erin is expected to get and where it's heading coming up next. See you in a bit.

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[01:45:23]

HUNTE: Welcome back. A disturbing scene in Los Angeles where a man was seen yelling for help as a group of unidentified men picked him up and pushed him into a car outside a city courthouse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you guys have a warrant?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you help me, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Well, the men detaining him are in plain clothes and some are wearing masks. During the incident, one of them said he was an ICE agent. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to CNN's questions about whether ICE was involved in a detention. But the incident comes as ICE agents are increasingly making arrests at courthouses under guidance from the Trump administration.

The United States is deploying more than 4,000 troops to Latin America and the Caribbean. Two U.S. defense officials told CNN it's part of a ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels. The USS Iwo Jima will join a broader deployment that started over the past three weeks. A nuclear submarine, planes, Navy destroyers and a guided missile cruiser will also be a part of the mission. One official says the build-up is mostly a show of force for now, but it gives the military more options should President Trump order action.

The first Atlantic hurricane of the season is now a Category 2 storm and it's expected to grow into a major hurricane this weekend. Erin has sustained winds of 100 miles per hour and will bring heavy rainfall to the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Forecasters predict the storm could reach Category 4 by Sunday. Direct landfall on any Caribbean island is unlikely, but it's not impossible.

Residents of a Portuguese village joined firefighters on Friday to turn back a blaze that was threatening homes. Currently, there are five large fires burning in Portugal, in the central and northern parts of the country. Thousands of firefighters have been deployed to these areas as fires continue to threaten communities. Meanwhile, 14 major fires continue to burn in Spain as high winds and

heat fuel the flames. So far, seven people across the country have died and an area the size of London has been burned. Residents of a Spanish village also helped with firefighting efforts by gathering water to put out the flames.

Devastating flooding swept through parts of South Asia this week, killing hundreds of people. Death and destruction has been reported from Pakistan, India-administered Kashmir and Nepal. Witnesses described the horrifying moments leading up to the flooding.

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HUNTE (voice-over): A wall of mud and water crashes down a mountainside in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the camera wildly swinging as its operator runs away. Rescuers are still searching for survivors in the remote region after roaring flash floods swept through the area, killing dozens of people and leaving many more missing.

Officials say a sudden cloudburst created the waves of water that left some people stranded and washed away others. Authorities say many of the victims were Hindu pilgrims who were stopped for lunch at a village while on their way to a religious site. One man describes how quickly the floods overtook the area.

KULDEEP SINGH, WITNESS (through translator): Immediately after a loud sound, I saw flood water rushing in. Around 150 to 200 people were here at that time. I started running. When I looked back, I saw no one. I have no idea where all the people vanished.

HUNTE (voice-over): Nepal and Pakistan have also been battered by torrential rains, with ferocious floods killing more than 200 people in northwestern Pakistan in just 24 hours. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired an emergency meeting to assess the devastation. But forecasters warn some parts of Pakistan could flood even more.

Heavy rain, landslides and floods have inundated South Asia in recent weeks in what's been a particularly fierce monsoon season that began in early June. And some experts say climate change is to blame for the increasingly dangerous conditions.

RAVI CHOPRA, HIMALAYAN ECOLOGY EXPERT: Temperatures are rising. Snow, which did not melt earlier, is melting. And there is heavy rainfall on top of it. So, the combination of melting snows, ice, water and lots of debris, this is what becomes a killer.

Ben Hunte, CNN.

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HUNTE: OK, the skies are not very friendly for Canada's biggest airline and its flight attendants. Coming up, how their dispute is causing major disruptions for thousands of travelers.

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See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: Welcome back. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued a new order that gives control of Washington, D.C.'s police department back to its chief. But the directive still requires the city to answer to the Trump administration while the crime emergency imposed by Donald Trump continues in the nation's capital.

A federal judge ruled the administration does not have the authority to put the head of the DEA in place and as an emergency police commissioner, as it tried to do on Thursday.

Air Canada flight attendants are now officially on strike. The threat of a walkout had already forced thousands of travelers to change their plans and now it could get even worse. As Paula Newton reports, the airline's entire operations could grind to a halt.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this labor dispute will represent a significant disruption to air travel, not just here in Canada, but beyond. So, many people using Air Canada, not just to fly in and out of Canada, but to get to places like Asia, Europe and South America. Right now, Air Canada said it has no choice, it must shut down its entire passenger service.

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They are in a labor dispute with the flight attendants, the flight attendants saying that they no longer can put up with the fact that they are not paid for things like delays, that they're only paid exactly when they are flying in the air. Air Canada calling on the government and Green to send both parties to binding arbitration. So, far, the government has not relented.

Business groups say that, look, the economic damage to Canada, already in such a vulnerable position because of the terror war with the United States, that the damage to the economy here will be extensive. And really, at this point in time, every day that goes on, Air Canada warns, even if there is a settlement, it will be more difficult to bring the airline back to full capacity. Really, it won't happen in a matter of hours. They're saying it would take at least days.

What does that mean? It means that the disruption to air travel, not just here in Canada, but beyond, will continue for the foreseeable future.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

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HUNTE: A turbocharged race in Beijing got underway on Friday, with humanoid robots competing around a track in a 1,500-meter race. Wow, look at that. CCTV reports the games began on Thursday, following the 2025 World Robot Conference. They ran until Sunday. For the first time ever, the competition carried a penalty for any

lane crossing, requiring the robots to run on their designated track. In first place came the Unitree H1 robot, with a time of six minutes and 34 seconds.

All right. There were tears on the way to triumph for Liverpool, opening their 2025 season at Anfield with a 4-2 win over Bournemouth. Fans paid an emotional tribute to the late star forward, Diogo Jota, before witnessing a six-goal thriller.

Tied 2-0, Federico Chiesa came off the bench to put Liverpool ahead in the 88th minute. Liverpool star Mo Salah went on to score in the fourth minute of stoppage time. A big victory in front of Jota's family and the ecstatic Liverpool home crowd.

That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. But don't go anywhere. Our coverage continues in just a moment. See you tomorrow.

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