Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. counterpart Donald Trump kicked off a highly anticipated summit in Alaska aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
The historic summit marks the first between Putin and a U.S. president since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made him a pariah in the West over three years ago — but comes as the two sides remain divided by stark differences.
Meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, the two leaders will first hold a closed-door “three-on-three” session followed by wider meetings between the two delegations and a “working lunch.”
Putin will be joined by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov in the “three-on-three” talks, while Trump will be accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Trump and Putin are expected to deliver a joint press conference Friday evening.
Speaking en route to Alaska, Trump said that he would push for a ceasefire and was willing to “head back home real fast” if the meeting goes poorly.
“I want to see a ceasefire rapidly,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One. “I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.”
In choreographed drama, Trump and Putin each arrived in their presidential jets and walked under gray skies to greet each other on the tarmac, before walking a red carpet together to an honor guard salute.
As fighter jets circled overhead, a reporter shouted audibly to Putin, "Will you stop killing civilians?"
Trump had vowed to swiftly end the war upon assuming office in January, but multiple rounds of shuttle diplomacy failed to make progress and Russia continued to bombard Ukrainian cities and press forward on the front lines.
Growing increasingly frustrated with Putin, he threatened to hit Moscow with secondary sanctions if it did not agree to end the war by Aug. 8 — an ultimatum that the Kremlin did not heed.
Leading up to the talks, there appeared to be little wavering in Russia’s terms for ending the war. Putin has been uncompromising in his demand that Ukraine relinquish claim to four regions partially occupied by Russia since 2022, as well as Crimea.
Yet the Russian leader appeared open to striking a peace deal without Ukraine in Alaska, calling Trump’s efforts to end the war “rather energetic and sincere.”
The Ukrainians, meanwhile, categorically reject the proposal of territorial concessions.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to the Alaska summit, has repeatedly said in the lead-up to the meeting that there could be no peace without Ukraine’s input.
“Russia must end the war that it itself started and dragged on for years,” Zelensky said in an address on Friday. “The killings need to stop. A meeting of leaders is needed. At the very least — Ukraine, America, the Russian side, and it is in this format that effective solutions are possible.”
European leaders also urged Trump to respect Ukraine’s interests when negotiating with the Russians.
But by sidelining Zelensky, the leaders have signaled the broader scope of these talks, which are expected to encompass not just the war but also bilateral relations and economic cooperation.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said that he would be willing to discuss business opportunities — but added that no deals would be agreed upon “until we get the war solved.”
Trump and Putin last met in 2019 during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, for a discussion the American leader called “tremendous.”
He famously voiced admiration for Putin during his first term, breaking with the U.S. intelligence community's assessments that Russia worked to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election in his favor.
AFP contributed reporting.
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