Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that U.S President Donald Trump’s administration is listening to the Kremlin’s justifications for its invasion of neighboring Ukraine and claimed that Moscow and Washington have come to a “mutual understanding” about the conflict.

Putin said during a visit to China that “the (Trump) administration is listening to us,” as he complained that former President Joe Biden paid Moscow’s arguments no heed.

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“Now we see this mutual understanding, it’s noticeable,” Putin said at a bilateral meeting with Slovakian President Robert Fico after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. “We are very happy about this and hope this constructive dialogue will continue.”

But Russia faces possible punitive actions by Trump, who has expressed frustration at Putin’s lack of engagement in U.S.-led peace efforts and threatened unspecified “severe consequences.” The American president has made ending the three-year war one of his diplomatic priorities and hosted Putin at a summit in Alaska last month.

Putin attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who are also facing pressure from Trump. The SCO started out as a security forum viewed as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia but it has grown in influence over the years.

After the summit, the Russian leader held talks with Xi in Beijing, and on Wednesday he was to attend a massive military parade there commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In Beijing, Putin struck an apparently amenable tone about possible progress in some aspects of the discussions to stop the fighting, although his comments reflected no substantial change in Russia’s position. Western leaders have accused Putin of marking time in peace efforts while Russia’s bigger army seeks to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses.

On the key issue of possible postwar security guarantees for Ukraine to deter another Russian invasion, Putin said “it seems to me that there is an opportunity to find consensus.” He didn’t elaborate.

While Putin reiterated that Moscow will not accept NATO membership for Ukraine, he also noted that he had never objected to Ukraine joining the European Union.

He also said Russia “can work with our American partners” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest and one of the 10 biggest atomic power plants in the world. Its fate has been a central concern of the war due to fears of a nuclear accident.

Putin said Russia could also work with Ukraine on the Zaporizhzhia question — “if favorable conditions arise.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot rose to an estimated $1.3 billion Monday night after the winning numbers failed to appear.

The numbers drawn were 8, 23, 25, 40, 53 with the Powerball 5.

A lottery kiosk advertising Powerball’s $1 Billion jackpot is seen Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

No one has matched all six numbers since May 31, allowing the jackpot to swell to $1.3 billion, which would be the fifth-largest prize in the game’s history if there is a winner in the drawing Wednesday night.

As ticket sales climbed during the past week, game officials raised the estimated Monday night jackpot to $1.1 billion before taxes.

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Although there was no lucky jackpot winner, two ticket holders in Montana and North Carolina each won $2 million.

Payments for a jackpot would be spread over 30 years. A winner also can choose an immediate lump sum in cash before taxes, which now stands at $589 million.

The odds of matching all six numbers are astronomical: 1 in 292.2 million. The odds of getting struck by lightning are far greater. But with so many people putting down money for a chance at life-changing wealth, someone eventually wins.

Powerball, which costs $2 per ticket, is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are held each week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights.

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and JUAN ARRAEZ, Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday said his country was at “maximum preparedness” and ready to respond if attacked by forces that the United States government has deployed to the Caribbean.

His comments during a news conference come as the U.S. government this week is set to boost its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. The U.S. has not signaled any planned land incursion by the thousands of personnel being deployed. Still, Maduro’s government has responded by deploying troops along its coast and border with neighboring Colombia, as well as by urging Venezuelans to enlist in a civilian militia.

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“In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defense of Venezuela,” Maduro said of the deployment, which he characterized as “an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.”

He said he would constitutionally declare a “republic in arms” if the U.S. attacked Venezuela. He did not elaborate.

The U.S. Navy now has two Aegis guided-missile destroyers — the USS Gravely and the USS Jason Dunham — in the Caribbean, as well as the destroyer USS Sampson and the cruiser USS Lake Erie in the waters off Latin America. That military presence is set to expand.

Three amphibious assault ships — a force that encompasses more than 4,000 sailors and Marines — would be entering the region this week, a defense official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to describe ongoing operations.

The deployment comes as President Donald Trump has pushed for using the military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into U.S. communities and for perpetuating violence in some U.S. cities.

On Monday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil, citing a United Nations report, told his counterparts in various Latin American countries that the deployment of U.S. maritime forces is built on a “false narrative” as 87% of cocaine produced in Colombia departs through the Pacific and traffickers attempt to move only 5% of their product through Venezuela. Landlocked Bolivia and Colombia, with access to the Pacific and Caribbean, are the world’s top cocaine producers.

Gil added that the narrative “threatens the entire region” and an attack on Venezuela “would really mean a complete destabilization of the region.”

“Let us immediately demand an end to this deployment, which has no other reason than to threaten a sovereign people,” he added during a virtual meeting of members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States regional group.

Maduro also used his news conference to insist that he was the legitimate winner of last year’s presidential election. But ample and credible evidence has shown the contrary, prompting several countries, including the U.S., to not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s president.

Maduro, sworn in to a third six-year term in January, added that his government maintains two lines of communication with the Trump administration, one with the State Department and another with Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell. He called Secretary of State Marco Rubio a “warlord” pushing for action in the Caribbean to topple Venezuela’s government.

Since the July 2024 presidential election, Venezuela’s political opposition has been urging the U.S. and other countries to pressure Maduro into leaving office. Its leader, María Corina Machado, last month thanked Trump and Rubio for the deployment of the vessels, describing the move as “the right approach” toward Venezuela’s government, which she described as a “criminal enterprise.”

Maduro on Monday, however, warned that U.S. military action against Venezuela would “stain” Trump’s “hands with blood.”

“President Donald Trump, the pursuit of regime change is exhausted; it has failed as a policy worldwide,” Maduro said. “You cannot pretend to impose a situation in Venezuela.”

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

By KEN MORITSUGU, Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin as an “old friend” as the two held a series of meetings Tuesday at a time when their countries face both overlapping and differing challenges from the United States.

Relations between China and Russia have deepened in recent years, particularly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. U.S. President Donald Trump’s unorthodox approach to the war has added a twist to the relationship but doesn’t appear to have fundamentally changed it.

Putin addressed Xi as “dear friend” and said that Moscow’s ties with Beijing are “at an unprecedentedly high level.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting at The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

In a sign of the importance China places on the relationship, their formal meeting was followed by tea with top aides at Zhongnanhai, the walled complex that is the center of power in China with residences and offices for its top leaders.

China announced after the talks that it would begin offering 30-day visa-free access to Russian travelers starting later this month.

The talks come the day after both attended a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the nearby Chinese city of Tianjin, and the day before a grand Chinese military parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The Soviet Union was neutral for much of the war in Asia, but provided assistance to China in earlier fighting against invading Japanese forces in the 1930s. It also declared war on Japan in the waning days of World War II and sent troops over the border into Japanese-occupied northeastern China.

“We were always together then, we remain together now,” Putin said.

China says it is neutral in the Ukraine war but has provided an economic lifeline to Russia by continuing trade despite Western sanctions.

A memorandum was signed to build another natural gas pipeline to China, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said in Beijing, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The Russian state gas company also signed agreements with a Chinese state energy company to increase deliveries via existing routes, the news agency said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a walk at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

The U.S. and the European Union have also put sanctions on Chinese companies that they say have abetted Russia’s military industry.

“China and Russia face the same problem and must work together to jointly cope with the pressure from the U.S.,” said Li Xin, the director of the Institute of European and Asian Studies at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

China is also one of the main targets of Trump’s taxes on imports, though he has backed down from what was an escalating tariff war and his administration has begun negotiations with Beijing on a trade deal.

The summit of the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization brought Xi and Putin together with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held separate talks with both leaders on the sidelines of the Tianjin meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on India and the tone coming from the White House have pushed New Delhi closer to China and Russia, though Modi will not attend China’s military parade.

Xi has tried to position China as a leader of countries that feel disadvantaged by the U.S.-dominated, post-World War II order.

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At the Shanghai Cooperation summit and again in his meetings with Putin, he proposed an initiative to build “a more just and equitable global governance system.”

China doesn’t want to overturn the global order but change it so it better serves its interests, Li said.

“China and Russia do not yet have the power to change the world order but they are constantly pushing for reforms that benefit them,” he said.

Putin and Xi held a three-way meeting with Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa ahead of their talks. His landlocked country of grasslands and mineral resources is sandwiched between the two giants.

Putin said in opening remarks that the three countries are good neighbors, with a shared interest in developing ties.

In 2024, Putin made an official visit to Mongolia, where the government ignored calls to arrest him on an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the invasion of Ukraine.

Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu and researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report.