Putin U.S. Meeting, Netanyahu's Gaza Plan, Trump D.C. Action

Speaker 1 President Trump demanded Russia announce a ceasefire in Ukraine by last Friday for face sanctions.

Speaker 2 That deadline came and went. Instead of sanctions, Trump is inviting Russia's president to Alaska for negotiations.
So will diplomacy work?

Speaker 1 I'm Leila Faldil, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.

Speaker 1 Israel is defending its plan to forcibly remove residents from Gaza City as it seeks to take control of the entire Palestinian territory.

Speaker 3 This is the best way to end the war and the best way to end it speedily.

Speaker 1 Many world leaders condemn the plan as more forced displacement of Palestinians. And President Trump is putting the DC Police Department under federal control.
He calls the U.S.

Speaker 1 capital a place of unchecked crime and squalor, but violent crime in D.C. hit a 30-year low last year.
Stay with us, we'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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Speaker 2 All right, here to talk about what to expect. We're joined now by NPR's Charles Mainz in Moscow.
Charles, things are moving really fast, so slow it down for us and catch us up to speed.

Speaker 3 Yeah, sure. You know, normally summits take months to plan.
This one's being thrown together in a week, so everyone really is scrambling to figure out details.

Speaker 3 One key aspect is that it appears Ukrainian president Vlodymir Zelensky will not be included.

Speaker 3 President Putin of Russia has said he's not ready for that, and in any case, clearly prefers the Cold War-era optics of a one-on-one with Trump. Yet, Vice President J.D.

Speaker 3 Vance on Sunday suggested that a Putin-Trump-Zelensky meeting was only a matter of time, as he explained to Fox News.

Speaker 2 We're now trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict.

Speaker 2 So meanwhile, European leaders gathered over the weekend to coordinate their response. What did they say?

Speaker 3 Yeah, they issued a statement rejecting any attempt by Trump and Putin to cut a deal that would force concessions on Ukraine, essentially joining Zelensky and saying, you can't decide this without us.

Speaker 3 And yet this summit is going forward. It would be Putin's first visit with an American president since 2021 before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and his first visit to the U.S.

Speaker 3 barring sessions at the United Nations since way back in 2007.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and just last week, Trump was threatening sanctions. Now he's kind of throwing together a summit.
So what changed?

Speaker 3 Well, you know, that sanctions threat may have played a role. Clearly, though, Trump wants to end this war and burnish his credentials as a global peacemaker.

Speaker 3 Now, the problem really has been that despite leveraging his personal relationship with Putin, it hasn't worked.

Speaker 3 Putin kept rejecting Trump's off-calls for a ceasefire, convinced that his military had the upper hand. So now Trump is really taking a different approach.

Speaker 3 He's trying to cut a deal before an agreed-upon ceasefire, focusing on concessions that might lead to peace. But of course, we don't know what promises were made.

Speaker 3 These initial negotiations happened behind closed doors when Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin in the Kremlin last week.

Speaker 2 And Trump talked about some lands being swapped as part of a peace deal. What do we know about what that might involve?

Speaker 3 Well, there seems to be some confusion over the Witkoff-Putin meeting.

Speaker 3 There are a host of reports claiming Witkoff may have misinterpreted or been given a false impression of larger Russian concessions.

Speaker 3 I spoke with a former Putin spokesman, Sergei Markov, who argued grand gestures were unlikely from his former boss, but Putin would be looking for ways to keep Trump happy and on the hook.

Speaker 3 I think it's some kind of possibility of Putin to give small gifts to Donald Trump to keep Donald Trump in the peace process.

Speaker 3 Though again, we don't know what that gift, if we borrow Mr. Markov's words, might look like.

Speaker 2 One more thing, Charles. Alaska.
Why Alaska?

Speaker 3 Well, you know, Alaskans might say, why not Alaska? It's a beautiful place, though there are mixed feelings about the summit taking place there because there's a complicated history.

Speaker 3 You know, Alaska was part of the Russian Empire, sold to the U.S. in 1867 for a song.
And the irony is that Russian nationalists to this day argue Alaska should be returned to Russia.

Speaker 3 And it's Russia's focus on empire and the past that in many ways led us to the conflict we see in Ukraine today.

Speaker 2 That's NPR's Charles Mainz in Moscow. Thank you very much.

Speaker 3 Thank you.

Speaker 2 Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, made his case to the international press last night about why Israel is moving to take control of the rest of the Gaza Strip.

Speaker 1 And he directly pushed back against mounting criticism both at home and internationally over this military escalation.

Speaker 3 This is the best way to end the war and the best way to end it speedily.

Speaker 2 With us is NPR's Emily Fang in Tel Aviv following all of this. So, Emily, how did Netanyahu describe Israel's expansion of the war in Gaza?

Speaker 8 So, he detailed some already announced plans to take over Gaza City, which is in the north of Gaza, in refugee camps in central Gaza.

Speaker 8 And he said civilians would be moved from these places to what he called designated safe zones.

Speaker 8 But it's really unclear what that means, given this would involve hundreds of thousands of civilians being evacuated. And nearly all of Gaza is basically a combat zone or it is a military zone.

Speaker 8 Netanyahu said Israel had no choice but to finish the job of defeating Hamas.

Speaker 8 But hundreds of former senior defense officials said last week in an open letter, Israel had already achieved all of its military objectives in Gaza.

Speaker 8 Netanyahu then spent a good part of the last half of the press conference calling reports of mass starvation in Gaza part of a, quote, global campaign of lies.

Speaker 8 Even though NPR and many other news outlets and aid organizations through first-hand reporting have documented systemic hunger due to Israel's restrictions on letting in more aid to Gaza.

Speaker 8 And yesterday I went down to Israel's border with Gaza, close enough that I could see the destroyed northern edge of the strip, you know, concrete ruins of houses completely empty of people.

Speaker 8 And you could see the smoke and hear the bombs from ongoing Israeli bombing of this enclave.

Speaker 8 And that bombing later escalated throughout the day, including a targeted airstrike last night that killed Anas al-Sharif, Gaza's most prominent television journalist, and also a number of his Al Jazeera colleagues.

Speaker 2 You mentioned how Netanyahu says that Israel has no choice but to fight now. Do Israelis also say this? Do they support this?

Speaker 8 They are extremely split.

Speaker 8 A good portion of society, including, as I mentioned, many former military officials, want the war to end, and there are growing anti-war protests and calls this week for a mass strike.

Speaker 8 Yesterday, I also followed a group of several hundred mothers and at least one former chief of staff to the military, who also drove down to the border of Gaza in protest of the war.

Speaker 8 And one of the demonstrators was Agami Gelb. She is the mother of a soldier currently fighting for the Israeli army.
And her second son, she says, is about to be drafted in a week.

Speaker 9 It's only kills more and more soldiers there.

Speaker 9 They are very, very tired of this war. We see the impact of the war on our sons already.

Speaker 8 People like her worry their sons are dying for no real military gains in Gaza and Gelb's concern really gets to the political tension that's emerging over the aims of this war.

Speaker 2 In what way?

Speaker 8 So Netanyahu, who has maintained the purpose of Israel's war in Gaza is to destroy Hamas and free hostages. About 20 are still believed to be alive there.

Speaker 8 Goals that he reiterated on a call with President Trump yesterday. But Netanyahu is politically reliant on these two far-right ministers who have far bigger plans for Gaza.

Speaker 8 They have explicitly and repeatedly said Gaza should be destroyed, that Palestinians living there remove to another country, and Jewish people should be allowed to move in again.

Speaker 8 This has become a central point of concern among soldiers I've been interviewing over the last week who are increasingly refusing to serve in the military because they want to get the the hostages out, but they see what these two ministers proposing as a religious war that they tell me they want no part of.

Speaker 2 That's MPR's Emily Fang in Tel Aviv. Emily, thank you.

Speaker 8 Thanks, A.

Speaker 1 President Trump has announced he's putting Washington, D.C.'s police department under direct federal control. He also said he's deploying hundreds of National Guard to the nation's capital.

Speaker 10 Something's out of control, but we're going to put it in control very quickly, like we did on the southern border. I'm announcing a historic action to

Speaker 10 rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.

Speaker 1 Now, the president painted a picture of a city riddled with crime, homelessness, and with residents afraid to leave their homes. But his description doesn't match the numbers.

Speaker 1 Last year, crime actually dropped to a 30-year low in Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
And local leaders have objected to this exact scenario.

Speaker 1 For more on this, we're joined by NPR's Brian Mann, who's been following this since over the weekend. And he joins me now.
Good morning. Hi, Layla.

Speaker 1 So, what else did President Trump say about what he's doing and under what authority?

Speaker 7 Well, really, what he said and he declared officially is that there's an emergency in Washington, D.C., in the nation's capital, as you laid out.

Speaker 7 He described this very dire scenario, which doesn't match the facts as we know them. And he said this new combination of force is going to be much tougher than Metro Police have been in the past.

Speaker 7 Here he is.

Speaker 10 In addition, I'm deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order, and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they're going to be allowed to do their job properly.

Speaker 7 Now, it's going to be interesting, Layla, to see how his legal authority plays out here.

Speaker 7 The president does appear to have the ability to do this under an emergency provision of Washington's home rule law, but that's only a temporary policy window for him.

Speaker 7 It appears that Congress would have to act to allow this to continue over the long term.

Speaker 1 Now, Brian, as you point out, he paints this really dark picture of Washington, D.C., a city really that he describes that I didn't recognize.

Speaker 1 Of course, there's some crime and homelessness, but based on his description, I'm not sure how I made it to work safely.

Speaker 1 He also compared the speed and power of this crackdown to what's happening on the U.S.-Mexico border. Some federal agents were already deployed over the weekend.
You were out. What did you see?

Speaker 7 Yeah, I think it's first important, Layla, to talk about that discrepancy between Trump's narrative and the facts.

Speaker 7 Crime, as you say, is down in Washington at a historic low, according to the Justice Department.

Speaker 7 This announcement follows a pattern where Trump often bases big policy shifts on narratives that are false or misleading.

Speaker 7 Last night, I did see dozens of agents from the FBI, DEA, and other agencies on the street, some wearing masks, carrying military-style rifles.

Speaker 7 But the fact is, the streets were full of tourists and locals just out on a summer evening enjoying ice cream and street food.

Speaker 7 And Washington, D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Browser, talked about this on MSNBC Sunday. She questioned the president's motives here.
Here she is.

Speaker 11 Now, if the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here.

Speaker 11 But it won't be because there's a spike in crime.

Speaker 7 At one point last night, Layla, there was a minor accident, and I saw at least two dozen federal agents come running to the scene where Metro Police seemed to have things under control.

Speaker 1 Now, Brian, you visited one of the homeless camps Trump wants removed. What did you hear from people?

Speaker 7 Yeah, people are really scared and angry. Greg Evans, I spoke to, he's 39 years old, and he struggled for years with addiction and other health problems.

Speaker 3 I'm definitely afraid that he could do whatever he wants to do, but I can't live my life in fear.

Speaker 7 And Layla, I also spoke with George Morgan, who's 65 years old, and he told me the U.S. is a wealthy country and should do more to help people like himself who don't have housing and health care.

Speaker 12 As much as God has blessed America and we're constantly begging God to bless America, truth be told, we're in a shamble and in hot water as far as taking care of our own.

Speaker 7 Now, as you say, so far, you know, Trump has talked really tough about sweeping these people off Washington, D.C. streets, but he hasn't said where he wants people like Evans and Morgan to go.

Speaker 7 Writing on social media, he said, I'm quoting here, the homeless have to move out immediately. We will give you places to stay.

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Speaker 7 But far from the capital.

Speaker 1 I'm PR's Brian Mann in Washington. Thank you, Brian.

Speaker 3 Thank you.

Speaker 2 And that's it first for Monday, August 11th. Amy Martinez.

Speaker 1 And I'm Leila Falden. You can listen to this podcast sponsor-free while financially supporting public media with Up First Plus.
Learn more at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.

Speaker 2 Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Rossman, Hannah Block, Kevin Drew, Olivia Hampton, and Adam Biern. It was produced by Ziad Buch, Nia Demas, and Christopher Thomas.

Speaker 2 We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Carly Strange.
Join us again tomorrow.