By ILLIA NOVIKOV, Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg said in Kyiv on Monday that officials are “working very, very hard” on efforts to end the three-year war between Russia and Ukraine, as a lack of progress fuels doubts about whether a peace settlement could be on the horizon.

Officials are “hoping to get to a position where, in the near term, we have, with a lack of a better term, security guarantees” that address Ukraine’s fears of another invasion by Russia in the future, Kellogg said.

“That’s a work in progress,” Kellogg said of the potential security guarantees after attending Ukraine’s annual National Prayer Breakfast along with politicians, business leaders and diplomats.

A week ago, Trump said he had set in motion arrangements for direct peace talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy. But Russian officials have signaled that such a summit won’t happen any time soon.

Trump said Friday he expects to decide on next steps in two weeks if direct talks aren’t scheduled.

A stream of high-ranking visitors to Kyiv in recent days reflects concerns around the U.S.-led peace drive.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Kyiv on Sunday for meetings with Zelenskyy, pledging 2 billion Canadian dollars in aid, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was in the Ukrainian capital on Friday. Germany’s vice chancellor and finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, arrived in Kyiv on Monday to discuss “how Germany can best support Ukraine in a possible peace process.”

Putin spoke on the phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, the Kremlin said. Russia and Iran have close relations, and Putin has also deepened ties with China, India and North Korea as Western countries have sided with Ukraine in the war.

Putin and Pezeshkian are expected to meet next week when China hosts the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s annual summit, in Tianjin.

Germany, Norway vow more help for Ukraine

Klingbeil, the German vice chancellor, told Zelenskyy that Ukraine’s allies have to “talk about what happens if President Putin does not relent, if he wants to continue the war.”

Germany will continue to stand by Ukraine, he said, echoing sentiments by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store earlier in the day.

Norway’s multibillion-dollar military and civilian support for Ukraine’s fight to defeat Russia’s invasion will stretch into next year, Store said in Kyiv. He said he will propose to the Norwegian Parliament spending $8.45 billion on Ukraine next year.

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Store, whose country borders Russia, told a news conference with Zelenskyy that Ukraine is “defending a critical principle on the European level” by refusing to accept Russia’s seizure of territory.

Analysts say Putin thinks he can outlast Western governments’ commitment to Ukraine and use his bigger army to capture more Ukrainian land while peace efforts are under discussion.

Norway on Sunday pledged about 7 billion kroner ($695 million) toward air defense systems for Ukraine. Norway and Germany are jointly funding two U.S.-made Patriot anti-missile systems, including missiles, with Norway also helping procure air defense radar, Store said.

Drone strikes continue

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 104 strike and decoy drones overnight, targeting the country’s north and east. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Ukraine has continued long-range drone attacks on Russia, hitting oil refineries, armories and transport hubs and causing commercial flight disruption during the summer vacation period.

On Sunday, an Egyptian plane carrying Russian tourists from Sharm El Sheikh to St. Petersburg diverted to Tallinn because the Russian city’s international airport had temporarily closed due to a drone attack, the Estonian daily Postimees reported.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry reported intercepting 23 Ukrainian drones overnight and Monday morning over seven Russian regions, both on or near the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA, Associated Press

More than 180 current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency published a letter Monday warning that debilitating cuts to the agency charged with handling federal disaster response risks a catastrophe like the one seen after Hurricane Katrina.

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“Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office, and our mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration,” the letter states.

The statement in it is noteworthy not only for its content but for its overall existence; a fierce approach toward critics by the Trump administration has caused many in the federal government to hesitate before locking heads with the White House.

The letter coincides with the 20th anniversary week of Hurricane Katrina, when more than 1,800 people died and profound failures in the federal response prompted Congress to pass the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006.

The letter warns that poor management and eroded capacity at FEMA could undue progress made to improve the agency through that law.

“Two decades later, FEMA is enacting processes and leadership structures that echo the conditions PKEMRA was designed to prevent,” it states.

It comes amid uncertainty for FEMA

The letter is addressed to the FEMA Review Council, a 12-person group of elected officials, emergency managers and other officials from mostly Republican states that President Donald Trump appointed to suggest reforms to an agency he has repeatedly threatened to eliminate.

It comes after months of upheaval at FEMA. One-third of the agency’s full-time workforce has left or been fired, including many high-level staff. The agency’s acting chief, Cameron Hamilton, was fired in May and replaced by another acting head, David Richardson. Neither has prior emergency management experience.

FEMA’s response to the July Texas floods that killed at least 136 people came under criticism after reports that survivor calls to FEMA went unanswered and Urban Search and Rescue teams deployed late because of a policy by which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem must personally approve expenditures above $100,000.

The letter contains six “statements of opposition” to current policies at FEMA, including the expenditure approval policy, which the signatories say reduces FEMA’s ability to perform its missions.

It also critiques the DHS decision to reassign some FEMA employees to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the failure to appoint a qualified FEMA administrator as stipulated by law, and cuts to mitigation programs, preparedness training and FEMA workforce.

Letter seeks to establish FEMA as a cabinet-level agency

The letter was also sent to multiple Congressional committees and calls on lawmakers to establish FEMA as a cabinet-level independent agency in the executive branch. The bipartisan Fixing Emergency Management for Americans, or FEMA Act, introduced in the House last month, proposes the same.

Thirty five signatories included their names. The 141 anonymous signatories “choose not to identify themselves due to the culture of fear and suppression cultivated by this administration,” according to the letter.

Employees at other agencies including the National Institutes of Health and Environmental Protection Agency have issued similar statements. About 140 EPA staff members at the were placed on administrative leave for signing an opposition letter.

The FEMA Review Council will meet for the third time this week on Thursday.

By DAMIAN J. TROISE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks slipped in early trading on Wall Street Monday, after a big jump last week on hopes for more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% and is just below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 110 points, or 0.3% as of 9:57 a.m. Eastern time, pulling back from the record it set on Friday. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%.

Keurig Dr Pepper sank 7.9% after saying it will buy Peet’s Coffee owner JDE Peet’s in a deal worth about $18 billion.

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Treasury yields rose in the bond market following their big drop on Friday amid expectations that the Fed will cut its benchmark interest rate in September.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.29% from 4.25% late Friday. The two-year Treasury yield rose to 3.73% from 3.70% late Friday.

European markets were mixed and Asian markets closed lower overnight.

Wall Street has a few more corporate earnings updates this week, essentially wrapping up the latest round of profit reports and forecasts from U.S. companies.

Nvidia will report its latest results on Wednesday. The company’s role as a key supplier of chips for artificial intelligence and its heavy weighting give it outsized influence as a bellwether for the broader market. It has been a driving force for much of the market’s gains, along with several other tech giants with pricey stock values.

On Thursday, Wall Street will get earnings updates from electronics retailer Best Buy and discount retailer Dollar General. Retailers are being closely watched as Wall Street tries to gauge the current and potential future impact on costs and prices from tariffs.

By HILLEL ITALIE, Associated Press National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A posthumous and “unsparing” memoir by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, will be published this fall, publishing house Alfred A. Knopf said Sunday.

“Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice” is scheduled for release Oct. 21, the publisher confirmed to The Associated Press. Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at age 41, had been working on “Nobody’s Girl” with author-journalist Amy Wallace and had completed the manuscript for the 400-page book, according to Knopf. The publisher’s statement includes an email from Giuffre to Wallace a few weeks before her death, saying that it was her “heartfelt wish” the memoir be released “regardless” of her circumstances.

FILE – Virginia Giuffre speaks during a news conference outside a Manhattan court in New York, Aug. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

“The content of this book is crucial, as it aims to shed light on the systemic failures that allow the trafficking of vulnerable individuals across borders,” the email reads. “It is imperative that the truth is understood and that the issues surrounding this topic are addressed, both for the sake of justice and awareness.”

Giuffre had been hospitalized following a serious accident March 24, Knopf said, and sent the email April 1. She died April 25.

“In the event of my passing, I would like to ensure that NOBODY’S GIRL is still released. I believe it has the potential to impact many lives and foster necessary discussions about these grave injustices,” she wrote to Wallace.

In 2023, the New York Post had reported that Giuffre had reached a deal “believed to be worth millions” with an undisclosed publisher. Knopf spokesperson Todd Doughty said that she initially agreed to a seven-figure contract with Penguin Press, but moved with acquiring editor Emily Cunningham after Knopf hired Cunningham as executive editor last year.

Giuffre had stated often that, in the early 2000s, when she was a teenager, she was caught up in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring and exploited by Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men. Epstein was found dead in a New York City jail cell in 2019 in what investigators described as a suicide. His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in late 2021 on sex trafficking and other charges.

Andrew had denied Giuffre’s allegations. In 2022, Giuffre and Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement after she had sued him for sexual assault. A representative for Andrew did not immediately return the AP’s request for comment.

“Nobody’s Girl” is distinct from Giuffre’s unpublished memoir, “The Billionaire’s Playboy Club,” referenced in previous court filings and initially unsealed in 2019. Through Doughty, Wallace says she began working with Giuffre on a new memoir in spring 2021.

Giuffre’s name has continued to appear in headlines, even after her death. In July, President Donald Trump told reporters that Epstein had “stolen” Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida where she once worked. She had alleged being approached by Maxwell and hired as a masseuse for Epstein. Maxwell has denied Giuffre’s allegations.

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Doughty declined to provide details about the Epstein associates featured in “Nobody’s Girl,” but confirmed that Giuffre made “no allegations of abuse against Trump,” who continues to face questions about Epstein, the disgraced financier and his former friend.

Knopf’s statement says the book contains “intimate, disturbing, and heartbreaking new details about her time with Epstein, Maxwell and their many well-known friends, including Prince Andrew, about whom she speaks publicly for the first time since their out-of-court settlement in 2022.” Knopf Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jordan Pavlin, in a statement, called “Nobody’s Girl” a “raw and shocking” journey and “the story of a fierce spirit struggling to break free.”

Giuffre’s time with Epstein is well documented, although her accounts have been challenged. She had acknowledged getting details wrong, errors she attributed to trying to recall events from years ago. In 2022, she dropped allegations against Alan Dershowitz, saying in a statement at the time that she may “have made a mistake in identifying” the famed attorney as an abuser.

“’Nobody’s Girl’ was both vigorously fact-checked and legally vetted,” a Knopf statement reads.

Giuffre’s co-author on her memoir, Wallace, is an award-winning magazine and newspaper reporter whose work has appeared in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. She has also collaborated on two previous books, Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull’s “Creativity, Inc.” and former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt’s “Hot Seat.”