Suspense is building ahead of the summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Our correspondent has been to the war’s front line, where Russia has launched an offensive to improve its negotiating position. We gauge what Mr Putin might want from the summit, and how Ukrainian soldiers are feeling about the deals that could be hashed out without Ukraine’s participation.

Elsewhere, we visit China’s “city of the future”. Xiongan is a pet initiative of Xi Jinping. Until now, it has also been a byword for costly vanity projects. Critics have compared it to a ghost town. But it is slowly coming to life. As people move in, policy experiments are getting under way—and flaws are being exposed.