Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are meeting Friday at an old Cold War air force base in Alaska to talk about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, a war that has raged for more than three and a half years and is the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was not invited, raising fears in Kyiv and across Europe that Trump could agree to freeze the war in place, leaving Russia in control of about 20% of Ukrainian territory.
Trump hopes to frame the meeting as proof he can deliver peace and boost his image as a Nobel Prize-worthy dealmaker. Putin, meanwhile, gains simply by being there, using it as evidence that Russia is no longer isolated and is back among the world’s top powers. The summit is the first face-to-face meeting between a U.S. and Russian leader since 2021 and begins at 11 a.m. Alaska time.
While Trump has repeatedly claimed he could end the war “in 24 hours,” he admitted Thursday that it has been tougher than he expected. He said if the Alaska talks go well, the next step would be an even more important three-way meeting with Zelenskiy.
People familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking say Putin might accept freezing the front lines in exchange for a promise that NATO won’t expand eastward and for partial sanctions relief. The Kremlin says no documents are expected to be signed, but Putin may also offer something Trump wants – a new nuclear arms control agreement to replace the last existing treaty, which expires in February next year.
Ukraine was reassured by a recent call with Trump, in which he reportedly agreed Ukraine must be part of any talks about territory and supported the idea of U.S.-backed security guarantees. But Kyiv has ruled out ceding land, calling Russia’s demands — troop withdrawals from parts of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, plus abandoning NATO membership plans, a surrender.
Both leaders face pressure: Putin from sanctions and the costs of a drawn-out war, Trump from the need to score a diplomatic win. The question is whether Alaska will be remembered as the start of a breakthrough or just another round of high-profile talks that change little on the ground.
