The White House has named a group of top officials tasked with speeding up a pivotal meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. Officials hope this move will lay the groundwork for a long-sought diplomatic breakthrough.

A rare meeting transpired in Paris as Syria’s foreign minister sat down with an Israeli delegation, according to Syrian state media. The talks point to a possible shift in longtime hostilities, with the United States encouraging both sides to explore normalization.

Reporting from Kyiv, CBS News’ Holly Williams finds a continent wary of Donald Trump’s claim that he could broker peace with Vladimir Putin. European leaders question whether the Russian president has any intention of ending the war.

Nordic nations and Canada issued a joint statement on August 19 declaring they are “ready to play an active role” in providing security guarantees for Ukraine. The brief communiqué underscored renewed international support but offered few concrete details about how the pledge will unfold.

Russia has tied any prospective cease-fire in Ukraine to Kyiv surrendering the eastern Donetsk region, home to a fortified “fortress belt” erected after Moscow’s 2014 invasion. The demand places one of Ukraine’s most strategic territories at the heart of fragile negotiations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked Beijing to serve as guarantor for a prospective peace agreement on Ukraine, Axios reports. The overture, aimed at the United States and European nations, signals Moscow’s search for a security backstop acceptable to all sides.

After meeting with former President Donald Trump, leaders in Washington are turning their attention to what comes next for Russia and Ukraine. The White House says it is now working on concrete steps aimed at ending the war.

Former President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European officials that Washington could support a European force to keep the peace in Ukraine. The meeting, marked by mutual praise and security-focused discussion, ended with agreement to reconvene.

During a heated CNN “NewsNight” segment, commentator Bakari Sellers demanded that a Republican panelist “name one threat Trump’s followed through on against Putin.” The exchange coincided with Donald Trump’s White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, where the former president pointedly refused to rule out sending U.S. troops to safeguard Ukraine. Sellers argued that many MAGA supporters, once staunchly opposed to such intervention, now appear ready to put American boots on the ground.

For the first time in its history, America’s flagship space wargame will not be scripted solely by U.S. strategists. The 2027 edition of the Schriever Wargame invites allied partners to co-write the scenarios—a move that signals Washington’s shift toward a coalition-led approach in orbit.

In March 2014, Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in a swift, bloodless operation the world overwhelmingly deemed illegal. That single move plunged Moscow’s relations with the West into their steepest decline since the Cold War—a rift that still defines European security.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy swept into Washington today flanked by seven top European leaders and NATO’s secretary-general in a bid to keep the Western alliance intact against Russia. The visit comes hours after President Trump suggested Kyiv surrender Crimea and drop its NATO ambitions—demands long echoed by Vladimir Putin—and vowed to outlaw mail-in voting at home.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said Monday that Israel must now “honour commitments” it accepted under the cease-fire that ended its war with Hezbollah. The demand coincided with Beirut’s announcement of a process to disarm the militant group—linking Israeli obligations to Lebanon’s latest move.

Journalist Shane Bauer’s investigation for The New York Times Magazine chronicles how Bashar al-Assad’s regime made an estimated 100,000 Syrians—children among them—vanish over the country’s 13-year civil war. The figure represents the largest wave of forced disappearances since the Nazi era.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to sit down with former U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by European Union allies, according to a Bloomberg Daybreak Europe segment aggregated by Biztoc. The London-based program flagged the meeting as the latest headline in the Russia-Ukraine standoff.

On Saturday morning, Samaritan’s Purse airlifted over 48 US tons of supplemental food supplies provided by MANA to help suffering families in Gaza.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calls on European leaders to follow US President Donald Trump’s approach toward Russia, criticizing current EU policies as inadequate. Lavrov’s remarks highlight tensions between Russia and the European Union and suggest a desire for improved relations through policy shifts.

In an unprecedented gathering, all 12 living CIA directors come together to share their passionate disagreements about the agency’s past, current mission, and future. The CBS News special reveals the intense debates shaping the nation’s top intelligence agency.

Nearly two years after Israel launched an offensive in response to Hamas’ 2023 attack, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are enduring relentless war and crippling hunger.

The United Nations human rights office has reported that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza since May. The fatalities, occurring mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, involved victims attempting to access food.

Cal Fire has begun construction at the Ramona Air Attack Base to install a new fire retardant delivery system for its C-130 aircraft, a move officials call “a game changer” for wildfire response. This significant upgrade aims to enhance the speed and effectiveness of fighting California wildfires.