In reference to Trump's upcoming one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce says Donald Trump has also met alone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before.

She says Trump is trying to do everything he can to end the war.

Bruce says it was Vladimir Putin who first brought up the prospect of in-person talks with Trump.

She describes the meeting as being about "fact finding, in a way", and reminds reporters that Trump said it would be a "feel out meeting".

Bruce adds that Trump has committed to calling Zelensky after the meeting, before he calls European leaders.

As a reminder, Trump said yesterday that after this week's talks, there would be two options: that he would say "lots of luck, keep fighting" - or, "we can make a deal".

We have breaking news to share with you as we watch the State Department briefing: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold virtual talks with Donald Trump and European leaders on Wednesday.

The meeting will come two days before Trump sits down for in-person negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

The Zelensky meeting was confirmed by his office to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

The State Department briefing is now under way with spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaking.

She confirms that Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, regarding prep for Friday's summit in Alaska. Bruce says they both confirmed commitment to a successful event.

Image source, US Department of State

Image source, Getty Images

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke to members of the press for about an hour, taking questions on Trump's upcoming trip to Alaska and his recent pledge to crack down on crime and homelessness in Washington, DC, including by deploying the National Guard to the city.

Here's what happened:

On Trump-Putin meeting:

• Leavitt confirmed the highly anticipated meeting between the world leaders would happen in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday
• She described Trump's upcoming meeting with Putin as a "listening exercise"
• Leavitt hinted that Trump could visit Russia soon, saying "perhaps there are plans", after Trump appeared to misspeak yesterday and say he was traveling to Russia
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has responded to news of the meeting, saying "First, (Putin) will meet on US territory, which I consider his personal victory. Second, he is coming out of isolation because he is meeting on US territory. Third, with this meeting, he has somehow postponed sanctions."

On mobilising troops to DC:

• Leavitt told reporters that since Trump announced his effort to tackle crime in Washington, DC some 850 officers and agents were sent around the city, and that they made 23 arrests in the city last night
• She said the administration will revaluate and reassess its plan after 30 days - when Trump would need congressional approval to maintain the federalisation of the city's Metropolitan Police Department, which the president announced yesterday

Other updates:

• Leavitt was asked about what Trump plans are for the the homeless population in Washington, DC - which local advocacy groups say number about 6,000 people - after he pledged that they must leave the city and she says homeless people will be given options to leave encampments and get help or face fines and jail time
• She avoided answering questions about a call with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the US's position on Israel's plan to occupy Gaza City

Leavitt press conference lowers expectations for Alaska summit - againpublished at 19:06 British Summer Time

19:06 BST

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Yesterday, Donald Trump described Friday’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “feel-out meeting”. This afternoon, his press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it will be a “listening session”.

Whatever you call it, the White House is clearly trying to lower expectations ahead of the first meeting between the two leaders since Trump returned to office in January.

As Leavitt acknowledged from the press-room lectern, the conflict in Ukraine is a two-party war, and only one participant will be in Alaska. Trump may relay a Russian offer to Volodymyr Zelensky, but it is far from guaranteed that the Ukrainian president would - or even could - accept it.

With Trump, it’s often best to expect the unexpected - but at the moment there seems slim chances that Friday’s meeting will provide any kind of substantive breakthrough.

Trump and Leavitt are acting like that’s what they think, too.

We will next hear from State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in a briefing scheduled for 14:00 local time. You can stream by clicking watch live above.

European leaders have warned President Trump that Ukraine's borders must not be changed by force after he suggested peace with Russia could entail territorial concessions.

The principles of "territorial integrity" must be respected and "international borders must not be changed by force", they say in a statement today.

Last week Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte admitted that some Ukrainian territory might end up de facto under Moscow's control - but he stressed this should not be formally recognised.

Formal recognition would entail a change to the Ukrainian constitution that needs to be approved by a national referendum, which in turn must be authorised by the Ukrainian parliament.

This would be a considerable hurdle for President Volodymyr Zelensky and may lead to the end of his government.

Much of that White House briefing just now was focused on the Alaska meeting between Trump and Putin scheduled for Friday - their first meeting since 2019.

Today, Volodymyr Zelensky has reiterated Ukraine will not agree to giving up its land.

The US president has insisted any peace deal would involve "some swapping of territories" and could see Russia taking the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and keeping Crimea.

But earlier today Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine is not going to leave the Donbas. Kyiv still controls part of the area - which is made up of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

The Ukrainian leader warns that the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops would leave a foothold for Russia to attack other regions in the future.

Leavitt says Trump will meet with Putin "one-on-one" in Alaska on Friday but there is no indication yet about about other delegates who will be at the summit.

The briefing has now ended, but stick with us - we'll bring you the final lines, and we'll be covering the State Department briefing shortly.

Leavitt avoids question on Trump's position on Israeli plans to occupy Gaza Citypublished at 18:47 British Summer Time

18:47 BST

Courtney Subramanian
Reporting from the White House

A few minutes ago, Leavitt was asked about the US position on Israel's plans to occupy Gaza City - a question the administration has been silent on this week.

Though President Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier this week, the White House never released a readout of the call.

The press secretary evaded the question, instead emphasizing that it is a "complex" and "complicated" war and that the US has been flexible on in offering resources to bring an end to the conflict. When pressed about how US resources were being used, she again said she would leave it to the president to comment on Netanyahu’s plans.

Though Russia and Ukraine had overshadowed news about the Middle East conflict this week, the White House can’t stay silent forever. Expect to hear Trump on this issue in the coming days.

Leavitt is asked what will happen to the homeless population in DC, given the president's action pledge yesterday to clear "slums" and homeless encampments and to require them to leave the city.

She says homeless people in the city will be given options to leave encampments, to get to shelters and get mental health help.

If they refuse they could be fined or get jail time, she adds.

Returning to the Alaska meeting, Leavitt is asked if there has been a shift in expectations on making a deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

Leavitt says there hasn't been a change, but says a deal requires both countries at the table to agree, and that the Friday meeting will include Trump and Putin but not Zelensky.

Image source, Getty Images

Next, Leavitt is asked about a timeline for the crackdown currently happening in DC. She says the administration will revaluate and reassess the plan after 30 days.

Trump announced yesterday that the federal government would be taking over the capital's Metropolitan Police Department in a move heavily criticised by the city's mayor.

Washington, DC's Home Rule Act stops the president from federalising the city's police for longer than 30 days, but Congress could then extend the takeover for longer.

Leavitt was just asked about remarks made by the newly appointed head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), who said he may not continue to publish job reports.

She says it's the "plan and hope" of the administration to continue to put out BLS statistics.

Trump fired the former chief of the department Erika McEntarfer earlier this month after statistics showed lagging job growth, saying - without providing evidence - that she had politicised data coming from the department. He announced that he had appointed conservative economist EJ Antoni as her replacement yesterday.

The mechanics and the scheduling for the Trump-Putin Alaska summit on Friday are still "being ironed out", Leavitt says.

When Leavitt is asked about Trump seemingly accidentally saying he will be visiting Russia soon, Leavitt says "perhaps there are plans" for a future trip to Russia but that he is meeting Putin in Alaska, a US state.

Asked how Trump will measure the success of his meeting with Putin, Leavitt says she won't give hypotheticals and that Trump will speak to the media after the meeting.

She says it is a "listening exercise" for the president.

The discussion in the White House briefing room has now returned to the Alaskan summit between Trump and Putin set to take place on Friday.

A reporter asks Leavitt why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not been invited.

She says Trump hopes at some point in the future a trilateral meeting can happen, but that having the US president sit down in the room with the president of Russia will give Trump "the best indication on how to end this war".

Image source, Getty Images

Leavitt says there is "rampant violence on our streets" and that Trump will not be swayed by media coverage or Democrats who say otherwise.

As we've reported, data shows that violent crime is down in the US capital.

BBC Verify has reported that official crime statistics - published by Washington’s Metropolitan Police , external, external- show violent offences fell between 2023 and 2024, and are continuing to fall, according to preliminary data for 2025.

The data for this year to date suggests that robbery has fallen by more than a quarter and homicides by 12%, compared with the same time last year.

Leavitt is now talking about the DC "crime emergency," as Trump called it on Monday when he announced federal law enforcement deployments in Washington, DC.

She says approximately 850 officers and agents were sent across the city, and 23 arrests were made throughout the US capital last night.