President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, August 15, 2025, en route to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. LUIS M. ALVAREZ / AP
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska on Friday, August 15, in a high-stakes, high-risk summit that could prove decisive for the future of Ukraine. Putin will step onto Western soil for the first time since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and on which Russia has not relented, making rapid gains just before the summit.
Read more Subscribers only Trump and Putin: A toxic and opaque relationship
Trump extended the invitation at the Russian leader’s suggestion, but the US president has since been defensive and warned that the meeting could be over within minutes if Putin does not compromise. “HIGH STAKES,” he posted on his Truth Social platform shortly before boarding Air Force One and taking off for the near seven-hour flight to Anchorage.
Every word and gesture will be closely watched by European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not included and has publicly refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia. “It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,” Zelensky said in a social media post on Friday.
‘Feel-out meeting’
Trump has called the summit a “feel-out meeting” to test Putin, whom he last saw in 2019. “If it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future,” Trump said Thursday. He gave the summit a one-in-four chance of failure – though he seemed optimistic when talking to reporters en route to Anchorage. “There’s a good respect level on both sides and I think something’s going to come out of it,” he said aboard Air Force One.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to a question from Russian state TV by saying that Moscow would not make guesses on the outcome of the meeting. “We never make any predictions ahead of time,” Lavrov said after he reached Alaska, wearing what appeared to be a shirt with “USSR” written across it in Cyrillic script. Russia’s “position is clear and unambiguous. We will present it,” he said.
Trump has promised to consult with European leaders and Zelensky, saying that any final agreement would come in a three-way meeting with Putin and the Ukrainian president to “divvy up” territory.
Read more Subscribers only Ahead of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, Ukrainians have become bitter
Trump’s latest shift
Trump has boasted of his relationship with Putin, blamed predecessor Joe Biden for the war and vowed before his return to the White House in January to bring peace within 24 hours. Yet despite repeated calls to Putin, and a stunning February 28 White House meeting in which Trump publicly berated Zelensky, the Russian leader has shown no signs of compromise.
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Trump has acknowledged his frustration with Putin and warned of “very severe consequences” if he does not accept a ceasefire – but also agreed to see him in Alaska. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also called for security guarantees for Ukraine – an idea downplayed by Trump at the start of his latest term.
The talks are set to begin at 11:30 am (9:30 pm in Paris) on Friday at the Elmendorf Air Force Base, the largest US military installation in Alaska and a Cold War base for surveillance of the former Soviet Union. Adding to the historical significance, the United States bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia – a deal Moscow has cited to show the legitimacy of land swaps.
The Kremlin said it expected Putin and Trump to meet alone with interpreters before a working lunch with aides. Neither leader is expected to step off the base into Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, where protesters have put up signs of solidarity with Ukraine.
Read more Subscribers only Donald Trump’s obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize
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