More details about preparations for the Trump-Putin summit later this week emerged on Tuesday. Here's what we've learned today:

• It was Putin who first requested Friday's in-person meeting, according to the US State Department

• Trump's meeting with Putin will be "one-on-one", the White House says
• The White House has framed the talks as a "listening exercise" and a "fact-finding" mission
• While Ukraine will not be present at Friday's talks, Trump will speak to Volodymyr Zelensky over the phone on Wednesday, with European leaders joining the call

• We still don't have all the details about the Alaska talks, but we did learn they will take place in Anchorage, the US state's largest city
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov have spoken on the phone to make preparations for the meeting
• Meanwhile, Putin has briefed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the Trump talks

We are pausing our live coverage for now but are continuing to cover Ukraine elsewhere on the BBC News website. Thank you for reading.

Image source, EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about his upcoming in-person meeting with Donald Trump, according to Russian media.

The RIA Novosti news agency, citing the Kremlin, reports that the two spoke over the phone and Putin shared information about the summit in Anchorage, Alaska.

As a reminder, Russia and North Korea have deepened their security ties since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, with Pyongyang sending troops to fighting for Moscow on the front lines.

While diplomatic efforts gather pace, brutal fighting is continuing along the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine's military has downplayed reports of a breakthrough by Russian forces to the north of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.

At this point in the war, the town of Pokrovsk is considered one of the most dangerous places on the front line.

The Ukrainian General Staff denies claims that Russian forces have encircled the Ukrainian units there but reports have emerged of fierce fighting.

Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia is "making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations".

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent

While we've been focusing on Ukraine this afternoon, our US State Department correspondent Tom Bateman has been drilling down into another important international story emerging today.

The Trump administration has significantly rewritten and downscaled the US government's annual report on global human rights abuses.

The document, previously seen as the most comprehensive study of its kind by any government, significantly reduces criticism of some US allies such as Israel and El Salvador, while escalating disapproval of perceived foes such as Brazil and South Africa.

Entire sections included in reports from previous yeas are also eliminated, dramatically reducing coverage of issues including government corruption and persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals.

State department officials say it has been "restructured" to "remove redundancies" and "increase readability".

The report also describes the human rights situation as having "worsened" in major European democracies including the UK, France and Germany.

The language used echoes previous criticism by the Trump administration and some US tech bosses who oppose online harm reduction laws in some European countries, portraying them as attacks on free speech.

During the briefing Tammy Bruce was asked about the report being scaled back and told reporters: "The Trump administration has proven from day one their commitment to human rights around the globe and to the quality of people's lives.

"We will have, in this case, some smaller reports, but I would suggest you watch the actions that are taken by an administration and that commitment to human rights."

Image source, US Department of State

US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce has just finished speaking to reporters ahead of Friday's meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Here's what we heard:

• Bruce said Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding the preparation for Friday's meeting in Alaska
• She said it was Russia's Vladimir Putin who suggested in-person talks with President Trump
• During the news conference, we received breaking news that Ukraine's President Zelensky will hold virtual talks with Trump and European leaders on Wednesday

Bruce also faced several questions on Gaza:

• She stopped short of calling for an independent investigation into Israel's killing of six journalists on Sunday, saying the US is concerned about any "loss of innocent life"
• When asked whether the US is comfortable with Israel's "claims and excuses" that it was targeting a journalist linked to Hamas, she said journalists should ask Israel about their statements
• The BBC's Tom Bateman said the "vast majority" of Israeli attacks had been carried out with US-made weapons, and Bruce interrupted by saying he should not be "projecting" something "that serious"
• Bruce did not comment when asked about the US's stance on Israel's proposal to occupy Gaza City

The White House has confirmed Donald Trump's plans to hold a virtual meeting tomorrow with Volodymyr Zelensky and European allies, according to the BBC's US partner CBS.

As we reported earlier, Zelensky's office also confirmed this meeting to CBS.

The call will take place ahead of Trump's meeting with Putin on Friday.

The BBC's State Department correspondent Tom Bateman asks Bruce about the killing of Palestinian journalists on Sunday, saying it was "one of the worst, if not the worst, single attack on journalists in modern history".

Bateman says, as with previous incidents where journalists were killed in Gaza, "probably many of them" were carried out with the use of American weapons supplied to Israel.

Bruce interrupts, saying he should not be "projecting" something "that serious" by saying "probably".

Bateman responds by saying the "vast majority" of weapons used in the war have been supplied by US and there is a "strong accountability issue".

He then asks if there has been "any internal process to look at what happened" to see whether the killing of the journalists in Gaza was in line with the rules of war.

Bruce says "there's many internal processes" but she won't disclose further details "because of the nature of them" and the importance of diplomatic work.

Asked again if there are internal processes on this particular incident, Bruce says she won't disclose this and goes on to say the Trump administration is trying to stop the conflict.

You can watch the exchange below:

A reporter asks Bruce about the recent killing of Palestinians journalists in Gaza, asking whether she will call for an independent investigation into their killings, as the reporter accuses Israel of failing to properly investigate past killings of journalists, doctors and other professionals.

Bruce says she "takes issue" with the premise that Israel has "always" failed to investigate its soldiers' actions, and says Hamas has used human shields in hospitals and schools.

She stops short of calling for an investigation into the killings, saying Israel is "one of our stalwart allies" and that they "do investigate".

A targeted Israeli air strike near Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital killed six journalists in Gaza on Sunday. One of those killed, Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, was one of the last remaining prominent journalists in Gaza.

Israel's military says it targeted Sharif, alleging he had "served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas", but provided little evidence.

A second reporter, who says 11 of his colleagues had been killed in Gaza, asks Bruce whether she is "comfortable with the claims and excuses" made by Israel to target those journalists.

The US is concerned about the "loss of any innocent life," Bruce replies. She says she is not in the position to comment on Israel's statements, saying "we refer you to Israel".

She says she understands that some of the gathered reporters have covered wars themselves.

She adds that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is committed to ending the war.

At least 186 journalists has been killed in Israel's war in Gaza since October 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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 12 August

19:06 BST 12 August

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 12 August

18:47 BST 12 August

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.