President Trump is heading to Alaska Friday for a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in hopes of forging peace between Russia and Ukraine.
After famously vowing to end the war in a single day, Trump is rolling the dice on a high-stakes face-to-face summit with Putin that he hopes can unlock a breakthrough after nearly seven months in office.
Even Trump admits he doesn’t know what to expect, a disturbing sign given that sitting down with Putin is in itself a major concession to the Kremlin strongman.
“This is a feeling-out meeting, a little bit,” Trump said. “I’m going to see what he has in mind.”
Here’s five things to know about the historic Alaska summit:
Why are the two leaders meeting?
After 3-1/2 years of war, Trump is gambling that Russia is finally ready to end its invasion of Ukraine, or at least take the best deal it can get.
Trump returned to the White House in January on a mission to shake up the U.S. approach to the conflict. After former President Biden steadfastly backed Ukraine, Trump dramatically broke with Kyiv and berated Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an Oval Office meltdown.
The president also made concessions to Russia by agreeing that Ukraine should have to give up on its hopes of joining NATO and, more controversially, must give up big swathes of its country to win peace.
Through it all, Putin has not budged, even snubbing Trump’s demand that both sides agree to an unconditional ceasefire.
In recent weeks, Trump has appeared increasingly exasperated with Putin, especially over Russia’s escalating aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities and other civilian targets.
But it remains to be seen if Trump’s shift in tone translates to any real pressure on Putin to change course.
Why now?
The White House says Putin suggested the summit with Trump at a “productive” three-hour meeting last week with special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow.
But it’s unclear what if any concessions the Kremlin leader may have made to convince Trump to green-light the high-stakes meeting.
The president already mostly delayed the “secondary sanctions” he threatened to impose on nations that buy Russian oil if Putin didn’t agree to a ceasefire or peace talks with Ukraine.
Why Alaska?
The summit will take place in Alaska, but the exact site hasn’t yet been disclosed.
Previous meetings between presidents and foreign leaders in the 49th state took place at airports like the Anchorage International Airport while China’s Xi Jinping stayed at the city’s Captain Cook Hotel during his 2021 trip home after a summit in Florida with Trump.
It will be Putin’s first trip to the United States since 2015. The Russian leader was hit with a warrant on war crimes accusations by the International Criminal Court in 2023, forcing him to avoid countries that are parties to the court. But the U.S. is not a party, meaning it won’t be under any obligation to arrest him.
Will Ukraine have a seat at the table?
It’s still to be determined whether Zelenskyy will show up, but it seems very unlikely.
Putin has previously ruled out a face-to-face meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, whom he derides as a Western stooge or worse.
The Kremlin leader said last week he could consider meeting Zelenskyy “but certain conditions need to be created” for it to happen.
Trump himself has said he plans to use the meeting to determine if Putin is serious about peace, with a possible three-way meeting including Zelenskyy to follow soon afterward.
What are the chances of peace?
That’s the million-ruble question, but the odds for a breakthrough appear to be slim.
Putin has overseen significant Russian gains on the battlefield in the past year or so. Trump’s unwillingness to strongly back Ukraine has handed him a major diplomatic advantage, too.
So, there is little reason to think the Russian leader would pull the plug on a winning strategy especially when he may believe Trump lacks the fortitude to stand up to him.
Putin may see the summit itself as a chance to burnish his image on the international stage while seeking to cement Russian stances on annexing occupied portions of Ukraine and keeping Ukraine out of NATO.
Ukraine and its European allies are worried Putin may succeed in sweet-talking Trump into signing up for its one-sided vision for ending the war, leaving Kyiv out in the cold.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte hopefully said Sunday he believed Trump would make a good faith effort to see if Putin is serious about compromise and, if he is, then the talks will move forward to include Zelenskyy.
“If he is not,” Rutte said, “then it will stop there.”
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/08/12/trump-putin-alaska-summit-what-to-know/