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Trump Rules Out Immediate Ceasefire, Pushes for Peace Deal; Trump Speaks To Ukrainian and NATO Leaders After Putin Meeting. Trump and Putin End Summit with Talk of Progress But No Deal; California Democrats Release Proposed Congressional Map in Response to Texas; Hurricane Erin Strengthens into a Category 4 Storm. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired August 16, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:32]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning and welcome to CNN special live coverage of the summit between President Trump and Russian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It's Saturday, August 16th. I'm Victor Blackwell in Atlanta.

We're following several breaking developments on talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine. First, a European official tells CNN that part of their overnight conversations with President Donald Trump included Article 5 type security guarantees for Ukraine with European and U.S. backing in the event of a peace deal.

President Donald Trump got back to Joint Base Andrews a few hours ago fresh off a summit with President Putin in Anchorage. He just posted new details about the summit and his phone call with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and NATO leaders on the flight home. Here's what we know.

Trump says everyone agreed that the best way to end the war would be to go straight to a peace agreement, not a ceasefire deal. He went on to say that Zelenskyy would come to Washington, D.C. on Monday and if that works out, they would schedule a meeting with Putin.

Now, hours before Zelenskyy said on X that Ukraine is ready to go full tilt to achieve peace and he supports President Trump's proposal for a trilateral meeting after Friday's summit both Trump and Putin claim progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today when President Trump saying that if he was the president back then there would be no war. And I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so I can confirm that. I think that overall me and President Trump have built a very good businesslike and trustworthy contact and have every reason to believe that moving down this path we can come and the sooner the better to the end of the conflict in Ukraine. Thank you. Thank you.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant. But we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: President Trump gave Putin a red carpet welcome and there was a jet flyover as well. The meeting lasted about three hours with neither president answering questions after a press conference. They did suggest though that another meeting could come in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: 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'll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. We have team coverage this Morning with CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Alayna Treene as well, breaking down those overnight developments. And let's start with the new reporting on how world leaders are reacting to the summit. CNN's Chief International Security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, first to you and your breaking developments that you're learning.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the key development today appears to be the nature of the security guarantees that appear to be the sweetener for any deal for Ukraine here. Now, we don't have a full readout of the U.S. position on this, but we've just heard from European leaders statement with the E.U. head Ursula von der Leyen and eight other nations referring to the need for concrete security guarantees, something that's been added to by French President Emmanuel Macron just now in a social media post referring to the U.S. willingness to contribute to those security guarantees.

Now, I understand from a European official that we are potentially talking about Article 5 type guarantees of security for Ukraine. That's not been spelled out by President Trump at all. But that's what this European official says is essentially a under discussion here. What does that mean?

Well, it would mean likely in the event of a sustained peace deal, the security guarantee that Ukraine would get would be some sort of collective type defense treaty whereby European powers, and possibly with American backing here as well, would say if you attack Ukraine, you risk attacking us too, symbolically. And that would be a huge incentive for President Zelenskyy.

We don't know what's the incentive to push him towards making a concession on. And we don't have a full notion as to exactly President Trump's thinking around that.

[06:05:04]

But the European official I spoke to very keen to promote the idea that they've seen a change in American thinking. And I think that's clear from Macron's statement saying that the U.S. are now willing to contribute to that security guarantee idea.

It's not all good news, though. We clearly have a series of lengthy bits of stagecraft to go through now. The meeting in the Oval Office on Monday, the another high stakes moment, a repeat of the February disaster which set U.S.-Ukrainian relations back, we thought then to a kind of an apocalyptic zero. Since returned, a high stakes moment for Zelenskyy.

We still also, according to another European official I spoke to, feel that Vladimir Putin's demands have not changed or lessened. He apparently in the meeting in Alaska, still insisted on full control of the Donbas, according to the European official I spoke to. Now, that's the region where the most intense fighting is happening right now.

And it's the region, frankly, where two or three weeks worth of open- ended inconclusive diplomacy would buy him enough time for his forces to make the progress they probably want to this summer in that particular area. He was still maximalist in that regard.

Does it mean that he's given up on the rest of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the other areas he wants control of as part of his most maximalist goals? Unclear at this point, but we're into a important two weeks now. Trump did say he's not going to implement the secondary sanctions on India and China, which have been clearly providing pressure on Moscow's thinking.

They're the big bankrollers of Moscow's war effort. They're major sponsors and they were on the phone ahead of the implementation of these sanctions, likely putting pressure on Russia. We've got a few weeks now or two, three weeks.

The Zelenskyy meeting, the possibility of a trilateral meeting between Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump. Remember, Putin rejected that out of hand back in May. Why is this thinking changed? We don't know at this point. Buys time for Russia on the battlefield and potentially the talk of a ceasefire that was a key Trump goal for this particular Alaska meeting has now morphed into, well, it's better to have a long term peace deal first.

BLACKWELL: Nick Paton Walsh for us there in Kyiv with those breaking developments.

Now let's go to White House reporter Alayna Treene. The president has been opposed to Zelenskyy joining NATO in the past, but this Article 5-style support and protection according to that European leader, I mean, that is the -- in this case, one of the most valuable elements of that alliance. We should expect that this comes up when they meet on Monday, right?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Absolutely. And look, I mean, it's hard to tell right now what exactly the next steps are. Right. We know that they are going to be meeting President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Washington on Monday at the White House to discuss this further.

The president clearly hoping that if those discussions go well, he said then perhaps we can schedule that trilateral meeting that he had been teasing all week. His whole goal going into Friday was saying, you know, it's not up to me to make a deal. But if things go well, hopefully the second meeting would include both Putin and Zelenskyy and that one would be more important. So that's clearly still the goal here.

But beyond that, we really do not know the details of what were discussed. I mean, the president, while speaking alongside Vladimir Putin at that press conference in Alaska yesterday, he said that there were many things that were agreed to, many, many points that we agreed on, but that there's no deal until there is a deal, essentially saying that it is up to Zelenskyy to move this forward.

And you kind of heard that as well during his interview on Fox News when he was traveling back the -- to Washington after departing Alaska, he spoke with Fox News Sean Hannity. He kind of said the same thing, putting the ball in Zelenskyy's court. So it's hard to know exactly where things stand. But what is clear is he had a very lengthy call with Zelenskyy on his plane ride back.

He also, you know, had European leaders join that later on enough to get them to believe that Zelenskyy needs to come to Washington to further hash this out. But security agreements is always going to be a key thing. We know that is something that European leaders have long been pressing the White House and Trump specifically on with the president not really willing to go there just yet.

Another key thing, I think, is just to go back to what he had posted this morning after, shortly after he had gotten back to the White House. The president said that they had all agreed, they all seemed to determined that the best way to end this war was not to have a cease fire, but to go straight to a peace deal. That is very different.

That is the president contradicting himself, very different from what he was saying just yesterday morning as headed to Alaska, saying his goal was to get a cease fire and he would be unhappy if they did.

And so again, we are very scant on details here, but there is some clear optimism, at least on the White House side that they can get some progress and have Zelenskyy here to move the ball forward.

[06:10:00]

BLACKWELL: Alayna Treene for us in Washington. Thank you very much. Joining us now, CNN contributor and former CNN Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty. Jill, good morning to you. So we talked about, you know, President Trump disagreed with Ukraine joining NATO. Ukraine, NATO's membership is anathema to President Putin.

But if there are these Article 5 style guarantees to Ukraine, is that equivalent to the membership of NATO? And is a peace deal possible if part of it is you attack Ukraine, you attack us all?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, it's really an important point. And one of the problems is we don't know the details. I mean, in contrast to the usual, let's say, diplomatic procedure, at the end of those talks yesterday, they would have, normally the White House would put out some type of statement with at least maybe cryptic comments about what happened.

So all we have is what President Trump is saying in that interview with Fox. And now most of the details are coming out for the Europeans. So let's take the NATO part.

If there are Article 5-style guarantees, that is a very big deal because Article 5 for NATO is an attack one, is an attack on all. So that would obligate the United States or actually it would -- it never obligates anybody, but the expectation is that they would protect Ukraine and that obviously would be a big deal.

And interestingly, again, no details, but President Putin in that news conference last night mentioned the security of Ukraine must be provided for.

Now, he didn't say how, but that could be an indication that maybe he is, you know, working out something with the United States that yes, he could say never ever NATO membership for Ukraine, but yes, maybe we could have some type of, you know, American guarantee.

And then the other point, Victor, that I think is really crucial and both, you know, previous reporters have talked about this, is that, excuse me, the issue of root causes.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

DOUGHERTY: You know, that is the phrase that Vladimir Putin has used even before the full scale invasion. It really goes back at least to 2021.

So, the idea of that, according to Putin, is that you've got to resolve these root causes. And the root causes, he would argue, go back to NATO expansion. And so having President Trump apparently agree with Putin that it's no longer ceasefire then peace agreement. Now it's the reverse. Peace agreement, ceasefire. That is a much more complicated thing as Nick Paton Walsh said, it will take a long time to get a peace agreement. And meanwhile, if you don't have a cease fire, Ukraine continues to get attacked, the fighting continues.

So that if this is correct, that now Trump has changed his mind and has changed what was the position up until like 24 hours ago. That is also a very big deal. BLACKWELL: Yes. The criticism of the President and the summit was that

not much was accomplished. But if the President has now shifted from this cease fire, it was what he went in trying to get and now he comes out wanting a peace deal, then it was quite consequential that time with Vladimir Putin.

DOUGHERTY: Absolutely. And I mean, I think your conclusion would have to be Vladimir Putin convinced --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

DOUGHERTY: -- Donald Trump of his position. And don't forget, you know, they were expecting a one on one and then it wasn't going to happen with, you know, the group meeting, et cetera. But that time, who knows, maybe in The Beast in the President's limousine, there was a negotiation or some type of talk.

You know, Vladimir Putin can be very convincing and to say, look, we need to resolve this whole thing, you know, little ceasefires. Yes, but we really, it's the root causes. I could see Putin trying to convince Trump definitely of that point because to Putin it is the main point, the main deal.

BLACKWELL: Yes. CNN's analyst Barack Ravid reported that President Trump told Zelenskyy and NATO leaders that Putin doesn't want a ceasefire, prefers a comprehensive agreement to end the war.

[06:15:00]

And then according to a source on the call, Trump said, I think a fast peace deal is better than a ceasefire. That direct line from Putin's preference to now his preference. One other thing here, there is this I want to play. This is from the interview that President Trump did with Fox News last night in which he talked about what has to happen next, what Zelenskyy must do next, and the meeting that he says is coming. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: 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 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.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: What would your advice based on today when you talk to Vladimir Zelenskyy, what's your advice to --

TRUMP: make a deal.

HANNITY: Make the deal.

TRUMP: Got to make a deal. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Now, that's what we heard from the president. But Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, who was in the meeting yesterday, who was a part of the summit, said that there was no discussion of a trilateral meeting.

What explains the direct contradiction here? And is there any scenario, you see that Putin sits down with Volodymyr Zelenskyy as an equal?

DOUGHERTY: Well, up until now, I would have said zero chance. And Putin has made it very clear he does not want to sit down with Zelenskyy, recognize him even as the legitimate leader of Ukraine. However, you never know at this point, whether in some type of, you know, aim to get some negotiation or something, Putin might do it. I mean, there always is that possibility.

But I think what you've got right now is really, again, a complete flip from just 24 hours ago, because the idea was that when Trump went into these negotiations or talks or meeting, he was supposed to say get a cease fire or something bad is going to happen. Remember he said very serious, you know, consequences --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

DOUGHERTY: -- if Putin doesn't do that didn't happen. Now what he's saying is, well, now it's Zelenskyy who's going to have to work this out. Trump seems to be standing back from it and then pressuring Zelenskyy to make the deal.

It reminds me of, I don't know, you know, a month ago when he was saying, you don't have the cards. Make a deal. You've got to do it now. So we will see what happens on Monday. But it's quite a reversal.

BLACKWELL: Yes, time flies. That was February when Zelenskyy was in the Oval Office and he was saying, you don't have the cards, you got to make the deal. Jill Dougherty, always good to have you. Thank you.

DOUGHERTY: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Our coverage of the historic meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin continues after a break. We'll break down the historic nature of the meeting with our presidential historian, including why this meeting was held in Alaska.

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[06:22:45]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There's no deal until there's a deal. I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate and I'll of course call up President Zelenskyy and tell them about today's meeting. It's ultimately up to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: And with that, the historic summit in Alaska came to an end. And the president, he did get on the phone. We know he spoke at length with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy just a short time ago. Both leaders confirmed Zelenskyy will meet with him on Monday in the Oval Office.

President Trump said that after his meeting with Putin and phone calls with NATO and other European leaders that all parties agreed that the best way to end the war is to go directly to a peace agreement and not a mere ceasefire deal, his words.

Earlier, a top Kremlin aide said that neither Putin nor President Trump raised the idea of a future trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy during their meeting, something President Trump is expressing hope for. Bring in now CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali. Tim, good morning to you. Let's start here with a reminder.

Jill just brought it up. And let's just get kind of a refresher. The last time Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in the Oval office, this was February 28th. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You don't have the cards right now. With us you start having cards right now.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We're not playing card.

TRUMP: You don't have your playing cards. You're gamble with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World War III.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And so this time the president says he's ready to move now to a peace agreement. Do you expect a repeat of that on Monday?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, let's back up a little bit and put into context what the last 24 hours seem to have done to this entire conflict. Victor, if as is has been reported and the president himself has said this, if the U.S. position has changed to the Russian position, you know, the Russian position was they didn't want a ceasefire.

[06:25:00]

And why don't the Russians want a ceasefire? Because they feel they're doing well on the battlefield. Vladimir Putin thinks it's in his interest to keep fighting. In addition, he thinks it's an interest to keep fighting because the United States is not backing Ukraine militarily now the way it was before January 20th.

So the U.S. position has shifted. The president's position has shifted. Let's keep in mind that President Trump, who's been on a roll at home, thought some of that magic could rub off on the conflict in Europe and that he could push Putin to do something or agree to something that Putin has not agreed to thus far in his many conversations with the president. United States, that didn't happen.

Yesterday, what happens is that President Trump realizing he was not going to get the ceasefire that he promised that he could achieve in the campaign, he promised ever since he got into the Oval Office that since he can't achieve that. He is going to back away a little bit and make Zelenskyy responsible for the failure to achieve a peace deal.

Because, remember, the United States could actually force a cease fire, but the United States can't really force a peace agreement because Ukraine and the Europeans have to sign on. So I think the President is preparing for that failure.

What do I anticipate on Monday? I think that President Zelenskyy, having gone through the experience the last time in the Oval Office, to be much more careful not to be provoked.

So I do not anticipate a shouting match in the Oval Office, but I also don't expect any great movement on the part of Ukraine, because how can they? The only proposal that has been floated up to now has been some kind of exchange of territories.

But no one's talking about Russia giving away territory. It's all about Ukraine giving up four provinces, which rightly belong to the -- to the Ukrainian people.

So, I don't anticipate theater in the Oval Office that we saw before, but I also don't anticipate any movement towards a peace agreement, which is a much harder thing to achieve than a ceasefire.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And the president -- his administration, they've been clear about their frustration with the lack of progress. Secretary Rubio said back in April that if you can't make progress at that point in the next few days, that the U.S. will have to move on. The President said in June that we may have to just let them fight it out if they can't make a deal.

And so if we extrapolate from what we've heard from you thus far, is this then the off ramp for the United States to say, we've tried everything now and we've handed this over to Zelenskyy and it's up to him. And as J.D. Vance, Vice President, has said, we're not giving another dime to Ukraine. It's for these two parties to figure out.

NAFTALI: Well, as analyst of international affairs, I would think that would be a catastrophe for the world, but that may indeed be what's happening, that the United States is -- is seeking -- that President Trump is seeking an offering. He realizes that he doesn't have the magic with Putin. I'm not sure why he thought he did, but it clearly doesn't.

And so in order not to have a failure as President Biden had with Afghanistan, he's going to want to try to protect himself and move out of the center of the situation. Keep in mind, he's been proposing himself as the key player in achieving peace. The president himself is talking about the Nobel Peace Prize. Now we see him moving away from the center of the action. And if the United States withdraws its support of Ukraine, and it'll

be up to Europe and Canada to help Ukraine survive. And the question will be whether Canada and Europe have enough military equipment to keep Ukraine alive if the United States withdraws and becomes an isolationist power once again.

BLACKWELL: All right, Tim Naftali, thanks for joining the conversation this morning. And we've got more on the summit coming up. Plus, new developments on the federal government's takeover of the Washington, D.C. police force. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]

BLACKWELL: More now on the breaking news this morning. President Trump arrived in Washington D.C. essentially empty-handed. He didn't get the ceasefire deal he was hoping for in his high stakes summit with Putin. It ended with no deal and no decision on that ceasefire.

But President Trump is taking heat from many Democratic lawmakers for rolling out the red carpet for Russian President Putin. Arizona Senator Mark Kelly blasted Trump in a statement, saying that, "treat a war criminal like royalty. Hide the meeting. Share nothing. Putin gets a headline, Ukraine gets what? Next time, ink the deal first."

Critics say Trump also handed Putin a win by backing off his threats to impose more sanctions on Russia after the summit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that. Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but no, we don't have to think about that right now. I think, you know, the meeting went very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining me now is the Washington Bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun-Times", Lynn Sweet. Lynn, good to see you this morning. I think some of what we're learning is, this is breaking, literally, as the show goes on about some of the decisions that were made in the meeting.

Now, this European leader says that there are these Article 5-style security guarantees that are being discussed.

[06:35:00]

We're learning why there probably wasn't much question and answer after this meeting, but do this for me. Can you reconcile the discussion of Article 5-style protections? An attack on Ukraine would be attack on its backers, with what we've already seen from the President, a reluctance to engage directly with Russia, a refusal to put U.S. troops on the ground. A reluctance to spend more money. How do you reconcile both of those as we head into this meeting on Monday?

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Well, I think -- Victor, and good morning to you. It's sometimes you can't reconcile things. And this may be one. It does seem that President Trump has never been a fan of Article 5, if you attack one nation, it's as if you attack all nations.

And I think that is where it may be a little harder to figure out what the endgame is. I do want to quickly point out one thing that I thought was interesting in that very brief joint appearance. Putin started out talking about the shared history of the United States in Alaska and all the Russian names in Alaska.

I think if you really think about it, it shows the point that countries move on and things change. Alaska is part of the United States, once part of Russia. No more. Ukraine, what -- you know, Putin loves to talk about history and his so-called historical claim. Things change throughout the world. Different boundaries, different countries.

At first, when he started, Victor, I thought is, you know, where is he going on this to say he wants Alaska back? But in all seriousness, I think Putin perhaps accidentally put a bigger truth out there that nations and lands, borders change and people agree to these things. How this goes in this agreement doesn't look like there is much headway over the weekend.

BLACKWELL: You know, Republican members of Congress rarely create much daylight when it comes to the President and his positions. But many of them are vocal on their positions of Putin, calling him a thug, calling him a killer, point out that he's former KGB. Have you seen any response from Republicans on the fanfare and the pomp, allowing him to ride in the Beast, and that moment alone with Putin smiling out the window. The esthetics of and the optics of this summit.

SWEET: Well, it's only a few hours in a sense from them. And the House and Senate aren't clearly -- aren't in right now. But the optics were to Putin's favor. Every analyst and -- I have listened to and seen and read seemed to agree. And also, we are allowed to bring our common sense in there, letting in this -- in the Beast.

The big limousine, who knows? You know, he's a former KGB chief, maybe he did or did not keep stuff in his pocket, you know, to put there to spy on. But it -- the security breaches we know is something, Victor, that Donald Trump doesn't seem much concerned about.

BLACKWELL: Let me move to one other story. You're obviously a Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times, and many of those Texas House Democrats, they made their way to Illinois to try to break or prevent a quorum, to move forward on the Republicans redistricting that the President requested.

They're starting to talk about now being ready to go home after 13 days. President Obama had a message for them. He was very complimentary of their work. What was accomplished in these 13 days? Because when they go back, Republicans intend to move forward with that vote and redraw the lines.

SWEET: Well, in Texas, House Democrats said they had two goals, which was to kill that first special session which they did, and to get other states to partner with them to try to neutralize the Texas map. Now, clearly, they have activated California, and if those are the two-stated goals, they have met them for now.

And some of the Texas Democrats are set to go back to Texas. You know, they had a very incredible media blitz here in the Chicago area, picked up mightily around the nation. And they did put this redistricting war on the front burner. The all signs point to and we know from what Governor Abbott said, he's just going to be recalling a special session until he gets a vote.

So, we're not clear what the next move of the Texas Democrats are or if they're going to, you know, understand it sometime that, they need a little endgame here. But they are saying that they met their first set of goals on here. And it did -- it got enormous attention, you know, because there were so many of them.

[06:40:00]

It also is clear putting this out there, you can't get this attention every day, every week, as they had now.

BLACKWELL: Yes --

SWEET: So, I think the -- you know, will turn probably to California, which by the way, has a two-step system to redraw map, not as simple as it is in Texas.

BLACKWELL: Yes, they've got to move it from this non-partisan commission into the --

SWEET: Yes --

BLACKWELL: Partisan process to redraw those lines in California. All right, Lynn Sweet, good to see you, thanks so much. Breaking news. This is just in to CNN. Hurricane Erin has now strengthened into a Category 4 storm. Allison Chinchar has your forecast next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:00]

BLACKWELL: The next phase of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska is already underway. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he'll meet with President Trump in Washington on Monday. Zelenskyy says that he had a long and substantive conversation with President Trump.

And we're learning this morning that European and NATO leaders joined that post-summit call. Now, before the summit, Trump said his main goal for the historic meeting with Putin on American soil was to secure a ceasefire in Russia's war on Ukraine. No ceasefire deal was reached. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Many points were agreed to, and there are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, we now know that his preference is to move to a peace deal instead of a ceasefire. No specifics on what points were agreed to in the talks, though. Also new this morning, Air Canada has suspended all flights after more than 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job overnight.

Seven hundred flights have been canceled. The airline says about 130,000 passengers a day will be affected, including up to 25,000 Canadians who could be stuck overseas. Air Canada also runs about 430 daily flights to 50 U.S. airports. The strike comes from stalled contract talks over pay and unpaid ground duties.

Also, we're following this breaking news, Erin, the first major hurricane of the season, is now a Category 4 storm. CNN's Allison Chinchar is here tracking it. That was quick.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and so we've often talked about the term, you know, rapid intensification. And basically, what that means as a storm intensifies, increases its wind speed by at least 35 miles per hour in 24 hours or less. This storm actually jumped 60 miles per hour in 24 hours or less.

That actually classifies it as extreme rapid intensification, because the threshold for extreme is 57, which we have definitely beat. So, yes, overnight, this storm really ramped up. It is still -- right now, it's at 130 mile per hour sustained winds gusting even higher than that. Still continuing on its westward track. It is expected to remain a Category 4 hurricane for at least the next 36 hours, with the possibility that it could creep up into a Cat 5 briefly over the next few days.

Again, here we take a look, where that storm is going. It's going to eventually start to make that right hand turn off to the north. Kind of putting it between Bermuda and the United States. This is a good track we like to see where it doesn't really impact land, at least not directly, but it will be heading into even warmer waters.

Again, fuel for these types of storms. Now, when we look at it again, you'll notice here, look at how close it gets to a lot of these areas though, before it finally takes off. And also too, the size, it's expected to double or even triple in size. The concern there, Victor, is that it really could cause some impacts along the U.S. east coast for things like high surf and rip currents.

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you so much, Allison Chinchar. Well, she is a difference maker on and off the tennis court. This former U.S. Open Champion is leading a charge to protect other players who want to step away and start a family. How her personal experience is helping current and future players.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: In June, the Women's Tennis Association brought in landmark protections for players who wanted fertility treatments. They did it to ensure players who wanted to start a family could do so while keeping their ranking and earning potential. Twenty-seventeen U.S. Open Champion Sloane Stephens has been one of the leading voices to establish the new policy, and she spoke with CNN World Sport host Amanda Davies about how the initiative is a game-changer for a new generation of players.

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AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORTS: What for you was the key with this policy and what you wanted to put in place to give the best possible scenario for players?

SLOANE STEPHENS, U.S. OPEN CHAMPION FOR 2017: I knew that everyone's body is different. Everyone's bodies tick differently to different medications, different drugs, different procedures, all of the above. So, I really wanted to make sure that the players had the opportunity to go at their own speed, their own pace, and have their own opportunity to decide when they wanted to return to play and how much they wanted to take off.

Not to have to rush back and get another injury because they weren't ready to play. Obviously, as a tennis player, we're on the road a ton. We're already traveling, we're already pretty at a high -- like stress level. So, to be able to bring that back and bring that down for the players and know that they're supported, even if that's three months, if that's -- you know, three weeks, whatever it is, that the rule is behind them so that they have that comfort.

You don't really start thinking about it until you're older or you're getting up there, thinking about having kids. So, if I've known, I probably would have done it when I was like 22, and I was like, oh, my eggs are all good and fluffy and ready and all of that. But obviously, at 30 when I did it, I was like, OK, like, I just don't want to stop playing.

Like I want to kind of plan for my future, but not have to be forced to, you know, retire early because I want to start a family, all of that. So, I think -- I think it definitely makes a difference for the younger players now who can start thinking about it at -- you know, at 25 instead of 32 or 30, or even thinking about it at 20 and can make the decision by 28.

[06:55:00]

Look, I think those years all matter. But I think now that we're having those conversations, those girls, those younger generation of girls now will feel more comfortable talking about it, doing it. They feel supported with the ranking. They feel all of those things. And it kind of -- it really does change the trajectory of like how our women in sports are making decisions for their futures.

I think this is very much long overdue, so, it's just something that we're happy to be doing. We're happy to be the leaders in. But I do think that every sport should follow, right? Every female sport should be following the same narrative of advancing players, advancing players' futures, advancing their rights to have families and their decisions, you know, to decide their choices, all of that.

So, as long as we keep doing that and moving forward, it does make a difference and it could eventually change our whole tour in 20 years. So, I think that's the ultimate goal.

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BLACKWELL: There's much more ahead on the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND, including the aftermath of the Putin-Trump meeting. We'll have live team coverage at the top of the hour.

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