By BARRY HATTON, Associated Press

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday to discuss how to end Russia’s three-year war in Ukraine.

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Months of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting haven’t made headway, but the stakes have risen since Trump met with with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. After that summit, Trump abandoned the requirement of reaching a ceasefire in order to hold further talks and aligned with Putin’s position that negotiations should focus on a long-term settlement instead.

The presence of several European leaders at the talks in Washington shows how central the conflict — and any settlement — is to wider security questions on the continent.

They are looking to safeguard Ukraine and Europe more broadly from any further aggression from Moscow — but also are providing a show of support for Zelenskyy after his last visit to the White House led to an angry confrontation. The American and Ukrainian leaders are scheduled to first meet privately, without the Europeans.

Here’s what to know about the Washington meeting.

The talks could be a pivotal moment in the war

After meeting Putin in Alaska, Trump is making a big push for a breakthrough.

A lot of issues need to be resolved, however, and the two sides have previously established red lines that are incompatible, including questions of whether Ukraine will cede any land to Russia, the future of Ukraine’s army and whether the country will have any guarantee against further Russian aggression.

In a post on social media Sunday night, Trump appeared to shift the burden for ending the war to Zelenskyy, whose country was invaded in February 2022.

“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” he wrote.

A comprehensive peace deal could still be a long way off.

Putin wants the Donbas

As a condition for peace, the Russian leader wants Kyiv to give up the Donbas, the industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has seen some of the most intense fighting but that Russian forces have failed to capture completely.

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, a Russian Army BM-21 “Grad” self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher fires towards Ukrainian position in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In his Sunday night post, Trump wrote that Zelenskyy should also accept Russia’s illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

As part of a deal, Putin has said the United States and its European allies can provide Ukraine with a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defense pledge, according to a senior U.S. official.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff called that a “game-changing” step though he offered few details on how it would work.

Ukraine has long pressed for some kind of guarantee that would prevent Russia from invading again.

Ukraine won’t surrender land to Russia

Zelenskyy has rejected Putin’s demand that Ukraine surrender the Donbas region, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, since the Ukrainian Constitution forbids giving up territory or trading land. That also means he can’t cede Crimea either.

Instead, freezing the front line — which snakes roughly 620 miles from northeastern to southeastern Ukraine — seems to be the most the Ukrainian people might accept.

Russia currently holds about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

Europe’s security is also at stake in the talks

European leaders see Ukraine’s fight as a bulwark against any Kremlin ambitions to threaten other countries in eastern Europe and beyond.

French President Emmanuel Macron described Ukraine as an “outpost of our collective defense if Russia wanted to advance again.”

“If we are weak with Russia today, we’ll be preparing the conflicts of tomorrow and they will impact the Ukrainians and — make no mistake — they can impact us, too.” Macron said Sunday.

The European political heavyweights expected in Washington are Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Civilians are killed as the fighting continues

Ukraine has in recent months been losing more territory against Russia’s bigger army, and Moscow’s forces breached Ukrainian lines in a series of minor infiltrations in the Donetsk region ahead of the Alaska summit. But there is no sign of a looming, major Russian breakthrough on the front line.

Rescuers evacuate an injured civilian after a residential building was hit following Russia’s missile attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

Both sides have also kept up their daily long-range strikes behind the front line.

A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed six people late Sunday, including an 18-month-old and a 16-year-old, according to regional head Oleh Syniehubov. The attack on the northeastern city injured 20 others, including six children, he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday reported intercepting 23 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and the annexed Crimean peninsula overnight.

Today is Monday, Aug. 18, the 230th day of 2025. There are 135 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 18, 2005, a judge in Wichita, Kansas, sentenced BTK serial killer Dennis Rader to 10 consecutive life terms, the maximum the law would allow.

Also on this date:

In 1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke Island colony (in present-day North Carolina), returned to Roanoke after nearly three years abroad only to find the settlement deserted; the fate of the “Lost Colony” remains a mystery.

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In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation of Neutrality, aimed at keeping the United States out of World War I.

In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing American women’s right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.

In 1958 , Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita was published in the United States.

In 1963, James Meredith became the first Black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York, wound to a close after three nights with a mid-morning set by Jimi Hendrix.

In 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast, leaving 21 dead and causing more than a billion dollars’ worth of damage.

In 2004, in Athens, Paul Hamm (hahm) won the men’s gymnastics all-around Olympic gold medal by the closest margin ever in the event; controversy followed after it was discovered that a scoring error cost Yang Tae-young of South Korea the title.

In 2014, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis convulsed by protests over the fatal shooting of a Black 18-year-old, Michael Brown.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor-director Robert Redford is 89.
Actor Carole Bouquet is 68.
Actor Denis Leary is 68.
Actor Madeleine Stowe is 67.
ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff is 64.
Actor Edward Norton is 56.
Actor Christian Slater is 56.
Actor Kaitlin Olson is 50.
Actor-comedian Andy Samberg is 47.
Artist-model Frances Bean Cobain is 33.
Actor-singer Maia Mitchell is 32.
Actor Madelaine Petsch is 31.
Olympic gold medal swimmer Summer McIntosh is 19.

Members of the community gathered, Sunday on the grounds of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in St. Paul, lighting lanterns, eating food and partaking in Japanese customs in celebration of Obon, a Japanese Buddhist holiday that honors the spirit of ancestors.

The annual event, which took place from 3 to 9 p.m., was organized by Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, Japan America Society of Minnesota, and St. Paul Nagasaki Sister City Committee.

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Sunday night, Trent Reznor opened the first Nine Inch Nails concert in the metro in a dozen years with a whisper, not a scream.

Immediately after a set of industrial dance beats from German DJ/producer Boys Noize, Reznor promptly began his show just before 9 p.m., alone on a stage in the center of the floor at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.

Sitting behind an electric piano, he performed a stripped-down version of the 2005 album track “Right Where It Belongs” followed by a similarly transformed take on “Ruiner,” one of many of the night’s selections from NIN’s 1994 breakthrough album “The Downward Spiral.”

Reznor’s longtime collaborator and only other official band member Atticus Ross joined him on keyboards followed by touring musicians Robin Finck on guitar, Alessandro Cortini on bass and drummer Josh Freese, fresh from getting unceremoniously fired from the Foo Fighters. (Freese previously played with NIN in the late ’00s and didn’t miss a beat fitting in with the 2025 version of the band.)

After tackling a remix of “Piggy,” the band convened on the main stage for a terrific run of songs that included “Wish,” “March of the Pigs” and an absolutely ferocious “Copy of A.”

Midway through the show, the band returned to the second stage for a set of songs reimagined by the aforementioned Boys Noize, who worked with Reznor and Ross on the upcoming soundtrack for “Tron: Ares.” His electronic tinkering gave NIN’s most infamous song, “Closer,” new life and the joint performance of the new single “As Alive as You Need Me Be” only further amped up anticipation for those upcoming “Tron” tracks.

Back at the main stage, Reznor and company tore through “Mr. Self Destruct,” “Less Than” and a cover of David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans,” a 1997 single that Reznor himself remixed back in the day. They wrapped with the inevitable “Head Like a Hole” and “Hurt.” Throughout it all, Reznor performed with a controlled intensity and focus, which helped bring out the depth and drama of his already dark songs.

It was a thrilling show, to be sure. Reznor could have taken the easy route and merely trotted out the hits. Instead, he delivered a full sensory experience, for the eyes, ears and soul. His willingness — insistence, even — to recontextualize his past may have put off more casual fans, but it more than delivered for his longtime followers.

What made the show even better is that it very well could have never happened. Reznor has long taken extended breaks between projects and has threatened to end it all several times. After all, he’s carved out a celebrated second career with Ross composing well-received film soundtracks for the likes of David Fincher and Luca Guadagnino. The pair won two Oscars in the process!

Sunday’s concert proved Reznor still has business to take care of with Nine Inch Nails and the future looks exciting. Sure hope they don’t take another dozen year break before visiting town again.

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