Putin praises Trump's efforts to end Ukraine war ahead of Friday summit in Alaska

LONDON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine, more than three years after Moscow launched its invasion, as the two leaders prepared for a pivotal U.S.–Russia summit Friday in Alaska.

Following a meeting Thursday with top government officials on the summit, Putin said in a short video released by the Kremlin that the Trump administration was making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities” and to “reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved.”

Putin also suggested that “long-term conditions of peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole,” could be reached under an agreement with the U.S. on nuclear arms control.

In Washington, Trump said there was a 25% chance that the summit would fail, but he also floated the idea that, if the meeting succeeds, he could bring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting.

In a radio interview with Fox News, Trump also said he might be willing to stay in Alaska longer, depending on what happens with Putin.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy and other European leaders worked to ensure their interests are taken into account when Trump and Putin meet in Anchorage.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Zelenskyy to London on Thursday in a show of British support for Ukraine a day before the critical Trump-Putin meeting. The two embraced warmly outside Starmer’s offices at 10 Downing Street without making any comments, and Zelenskyy departed about an hour later.

Zelenskyy’s trip to the British capital came a day after he took part in virtual meetings from Berlin with Trump and the leaders of several European countries. Those leaders said that Trump had assured them that he would make a priority of trying to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine when he meets with Putin.

Speaking after the meetings to reporters, Trump warned of “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin doesn’t agree to stop the war against Ukraine after Friday’s meeting.

While some European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, praised Wednesday’s video conference with Trump as constructive, uncertainty remained over how the U.S. leader — whose rhetoric toward both Zelenskyy and Putin has evolved dramatically since retaking office this year — would conduct negotiations in the absence of any other interested parties.

Both Zelenskyy and the Europeans have worried that the bilateral U.S.-Russia summit would leave them and their interests sidelined, and that any conclusions could favor Moscow and leave Ukraine and Europe’s future security in jeopardy.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov tamped down expectations for any breakthroughs from the Friday summit, saying there were no plans to sign documents and that it would be a “big mistake” to predict the results of the negotiations, according to Russian news outlet Interfax.

The Kremlin on Thursday said the meeting between Trump and Putin would begin at 11:30 a.m. local time. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters that Trump and Putin will first sit down for a one-on-one meeting followed by a meeting between the two delegations. Then talks will continue over “a working breakfast.” A joint news conference will follow.

Trump contradicted the Kremlin, saying that no decisions have been made about holding a news conference with Putin. The uncertainty reflects just how much about the summit, including its schedule, remains unsettled.

Starmer said Wednesday that the Alaska summit could be a path to a ceasefire in Ukraine, but he also alluded to European concerns that Trump may strike a deal that forces Ukraine to cede territory to Russia. He warned that Western allies must be prepared to step up pressure on Russia if necessary.

During a call Wednesday among leaders of countries involved in the “coalition of the willing” — those who are prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv — Starmer stressed that any ceasefire deal must protect the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine.

“International borders cannot be, and must not be changed by force,’’ he said.

Kyiv has long insisted that safeguards against future Russian attacks provided by its Western allies would be a precondition for achieving a durable end to the fighting. Yet many Western governments have been hesitant to commit military personnel.

Countries in the coalition, which includes France and the U.K., have been trying for months to secure U.S. security backing, should it be required. Following Wednesday's virtual meetings, Macron said Trump told the assembled leaders that while NATO must not be part of future security guarantees, “the United States and all the parties involved should take part.”

“It’s a very important clarification that we have received,” Macron said.

Trump did not reference any U.S. security commitments during his comments to reporters on Wednesday.

With another high-level meeting on their country's future on the horizon, some Ukrainians expressed skepticism about the summit's prospects.

Oleksandra Kozlova, 39, who works at a digital agency in Kyiv, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she believes Ukrainians “have already lost hope” that meaningful progress can be made toward ending the war.

“I don’t think this round will be decisive,” she said. "There have already been enough meetings and negotiations promising us, ordinary people, that something will be resolved, that things will get better, that the war will end. Unfortunately, this has not happened, so personally I don’t see any changes coming.”

Anton Vyshniak, a car salesman in Kyiv, said Ukraine's priority now should be saving the lives of its military service members, even at the expense of territorial concessions.

“At the moment, the most important thing is to preserve the lives of male and female military personnel. After all, there are not many human resources left," he said. "Borders are borders, but human lives are priceless.”

Zelenskyy said Thursday that Ukraine had secured the release of 84 people from Russian captivity, including both soldiers and civilians. Those freed included people held by Russia since 2014, 2016 and 2017, as well as soldiers who had defended the now Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that it too had received 84 soldiers as part of a prisoner exchange.

In other developments, Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Sumy region overnight Wednesday resulted in numerous injuries, Ukrainian regional officials said. A missile strike on a village in the Seredyna-Budska community wounded a 7-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man, according to regional governor Oleh Hryhorov. The girl was hospitalized in stable condition.

In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack damaged several apartment buildings in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, near the border with Ukraine, where 13 civilians were wounded, according to acting governor of the region, Yuri Slyusar. Two of the wounded were hospitalized in serious condition, Slyusar said.

Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary. Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels; Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine; Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

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

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, second left, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, third right, and French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, attend a video conference on Ukraine at the Fort de Bregancon in Bormes-les-Mimosas, southern France, Wednesday Aug.13, 2025. (Philippe Magoni, Pool via AP)

Ukrainian soldiers walk though a crowd of people holding photos of their missing relatives after returning from captivity after a POWs exchange between Russia and Ukraine, in Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this photo, released by Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov's Telegram channel on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, flames rise from a burning car in a street after a drone attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the city of Belgorod. (Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov Telegram channel via AP)

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit on July 7, 2017, in Hamburg, Germany. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, welcomes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street in London, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, walks out with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a meeting at Downing Street in London, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the garden of 10 Downing Street in London, Thursday Aug. 14, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, welcomes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street in London, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, welcomes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street in London, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A soldier of Ukraine's 30th Mechanized Brigade prepares to fire a howitzer towards Russian positions on the front line near near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shake hands after a joint press statement following talks with European and U.S. leaders in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer co-chairs a videoconference call with European leaders on Ukraine, in London, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Jack Taylor/Pool Photo via AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — An economist testified in Michael Jordan's federal federal antitrust trial against NASCAR that the racing series owes a combined $364.7 million in damages to the two teams suing it over a revenue-sharing dispute.

Edward Snyder, a professor of economics who worked in the antitrust division of the Department of Justice and has testified in more than 30 cases, including “Deflategate” involving the NFL's New England Patriots, testified on Monday. He gave three specific reasons NASCAR is a monopoly participating in anticompetitive business practices.

Using a complex formula applied to profits, a reduction in market revenue, and lost revenue to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports from 2021-24, Snyder came up with his amount of damages owed. Snyder applied a 45% of revenue sharing he alleged Formula 1 gives to its teams in his calculations; Snyder found that NASCAR's revenue-sharing model when its charter system began in 2016 gave only 25% to the teams.

The suit is about the 2025 charter agreement, which was presented to teams on a Friday in September 2024 with a same-day deadline to sign the 112-page document. The charter offer came after more than two years of bitter negotiations between NASCAR and its teams, who have called the agreement “a take-it-or-leave-it” ultimatum that they signed with “a gun to their head.”

A charter is similar to the franchise model in other sports, but in NASCAR it guarantees 36 teams spots in the 40-car field, as well as specific revenue.

Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin for 23XI, along with Front Row Motorsports and owner Bob Jenkins, were the only two teams out of 15 to refuse the new charter agreements.

Snyder's evaluations found NASCAR was in fact violating antitrust laws because the privately owned racing series controls all bargaining because “teams don't have anywhere else to sell their services." Snyder said NASCAR controls “the tracks, the teams and the cars.”

Snyder repeatedly cited exclusivity agreements NASCAR entered into with racetracks after the charter system began. The agreements prevent tracks that host NASCAR from holding events with rival racing series. Prior to the long-term agreements, NASCAR operated on one-year contracts with its host racetracks.

The Florida-based France family founded NASCAR in 1948 and, along with Speedway Motorsports, owns almost all the tracks on the top Cup Series schedule. Snyder's belief is that NASCAR entered into exclusivity agreements with tracks to stave off any threats of a breakaway startup series. In doing so, it eliminated teams' ability to race stock cars anywhere else, forced them to accept revenue-sharing agreements that are below market value, and damaged their overall evaluations.

Snyder did his calculations for both teams based on each having two charters — each purchased a third charter in late 2024 — and found 23XI is owed $215.8 million while Front Row is owed $148.9 million. Based on his calculations, Snyder determined NASCAR shorted 36 chartered teams $1.06 billion from 2021-24.

Snyder noted NASCAR had $2.2 billion in assets, an equity value of $5 billion and an investment-grade credit rating — which Snyder believed positions the France family to be able to pivot and adjust to any threats of a rival series the way the PGA did in response to the LIV Golf league. The PGA, Snyder testified, “got creative” in bringing in new revenue to pay to its golfers to prevent their defections.

Snyder also testified NASCAR had $250 million in annual earnings from 2021-24 and the France family took $400 million in distributions during that period.

NASCAR contends Snyder's estimations are wrong, that the 45% F1 model he used is not correct, and its own two experts “take serious issue” with Snyder's findings. Defense attorney Lawrence Buterman asked Snyder his opinion on NASCAR's upcoming expert witnesses and Snyder said they were two of the best economists in the world.

Snyder testified for almost the entirety of Monday's session — the sixth day of the trial — and will continue on Tuesday. The snail's pace of the trial has agitated U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell, who heard arguments 30 minutes early Monday morning because he was annoyed that objections had been submitted at 2:55 a.m. and then 6:50 a.m.

He needed an hour to get through the rulings, and testimony resumed 30 minutes behind schedule. When the day concluded, he asked the nine-person jury if they were willing to serve an hour longer each day the rest of the week in an effort to avoid a third full week of trial.

Bell wants plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Kessler to conclude his case by the end of Tuesday, but Kessler told him he still plans to call NASCAR chairman Jim France, NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps and Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress, who was the subject of derogatory text messages amongst NASCAR leadership and has said he's considering legal action.

NASCAR has a list of 16 potential witnesses and Bell said he wanted the first one on the stand before Tuesday's session concludes.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

FILE - Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins, left, and 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin arrive in the Western District of North Carolina on Monday Dec 1, 2025 in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer, File)

NASCAR vice chair Lesa France Kennedy enters federal court in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday Dec 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer)

NASCAR chairman Jim France enters federal court in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday Dec 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer)

Michael Jordan arrives in the Western District of North Carolina on Monday Dec 1, 2025 for the start of the antitrust trial between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jenna Fryer)