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Russia is preparing its troops for new offensives instead of getting ready to stop the war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, ahead of talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday. “[Putin] is certainly not getting ready for a ceasefire and war end,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address. He added, without providing specifics, that Russia was moving its troops for new operations on Ukrainian soil. “There is no sign that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a postwar situation.”

Separately, Zelenskyy said he had spoken to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, as he seeks to rally support for Ukraine beyond Europe. Both countries have taken cautious diplomatic positions on the Russian invasion. India is a major buyer of Russian oil and Saudi Arabia has pitched itself as a mediator in the conflict.

Zelenskyy said he spoke to both leaders about strengthening Ukraine’s position in any peace process. “Communication with leaders is ongoing practically around the clock – we are in constant touch,” he wrote on X. “Now is the moment when there is a real chance to achieve peace.”

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday that his country will recognize a Palestinian state in September, joining a growing list of Western allies as international condemnation and anger builds over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

A formal recognition will be made at the United Nations General Assembly next month, where “Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority,” Albanese said at a press conference.

On Monday, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country was also considering recognizing a Palestinian state, and would make a decision at a cabinet meeting in September.

“New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” Peters said in a statement, echoing the language used by Australian officials in the weeks leading up to Monday’s announcement.On Monday, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country was also considering recognizing a Palestinian state, and would make a decision at a cabinet meeting in September.

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Suleiman Al-Obeid, known fondly as the Palestinian Pele, was killed in an attack by Israeli forces while waiting for humanitarian aid, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said. Al-Obeid, who was 41, leaves behind a wife and five children.

Al-Obeid began his footballing career with Khadamat al-Shati, later playing for Markaz Shabab al-Am'ari in the occupied West Bank, and Gaza Sport for whom he scored a combined 100+ goals, earning him his nickname Pele. He made his national team debut for Palestine in 2007, winning 24 caps and scoring twice, PFA said. One of those included a scissors kick against Yemen during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation championship.

In that same year, Al Obeid was among six players on the national team who were turned back at the Jordanian border for "security reasons" on their way to a friendly in Mauritania. "When I heard that we would be forbidden from travelling I was very upset, because any athlete dreams of wearing his national jersey in international forums," Obeid told AFP in 2010. "We want to be able to travel freely with our families, just like athletes anywhere else in the world."

Since October 2023, 662 people associated with the sporting sector have been killed, including 321 in the footballing community, said the PFA.

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European leaders stressed the need to keep pressure on Moscow and protect Ukrainian and European security interests after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin arranged to meet in Alaska next week.

A joint statement from French, Italian, German, Polish, British and Finnish leaders and the president of the European commission welcomed the move but noted that the “path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine” and that negotiations could take place only in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities.

It added: “only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed”. They also said a resolution “must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests”, including “the need for robust and credible security guarantees that enable Ukraine to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has ruled out any U.S. military Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has ruled out any U.S. military “invasion” into Mexico following the Trump administration’s reported plans to use military force against Latin American drug cartels.

"The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military," Sheinbaum said Aug. 8 at her regular morning news conference. "We co-operate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion. That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out."

Sheinbaum comments are in response to a New York Times report Aug. 8 that President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to target transnational fentanyl traffickers that use Mexico as a base of operations.

The Times said Trump had secretly signed a directive to begin using military force on foreign soil against cartels. In February, the U.S. designated the Sinaloa Cartel and other Mexican drug cartels as global terrorist organizations, which some analysts have warned could be a stepping stone to such military action.

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President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet next week in Alaska to discuss an end to the three-year Russian war on Ukraine in the first in-person session between the two world leaders since Trump returned to the White House in January.

“The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,” Trump wrote on Aug. 8 in a post on Truth Social. "Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

The announcement comes on the same day a Trump-imposed deadline on Putin to end the war in Ukraine expires. Talks have been floated for months and were initially supposed to include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with Trump facilitating the negotiations.

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