Trump and Putin find themselves at the historic summit to end the Ukrainian-Russian war

President Donald Trump is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a historic summit on Friday in Alaska.

The president will go to Anchorage, Alaska, Friday morning for Reunion, which is somewhat equidistant from Washington, DC and Moscow. The United States bought Alaska in Russia in 1867.

The raised challenges meeting has been the first American summit since June 2021, which was under the administration of former President Joe Biden. This summit came eight months before Putin saved Ukraine.

What we know about Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska

Trump described talks as a “sensation meeting” and clearly said that his priority is to determine whether a cease-fire in Ukraine is possible. Trump predicted earlier this week that he would be able to take this determination in the first “two minutes”.

President Donald Trump, on the left, will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, 2025. (David Ryder / Bloomberg via Getty Images | Mikhail Metzel / Pool / AFP via Getty Images | Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

“I’m not going to conclude an agreement. It is not for me to conclude an agreement,” said Trump. “I think that an agreement should be concluded for both (Putin and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy).”

“I would like to see a ceasefire,” said Trump. “I would like to see the best offer that could be made for both parties. You know, you need two in Tango.”

However, the president threatened with “very serious consequences” for Russia if Putin does not accept to end the war after Friday’s meeting. In addition, while all eyes are at the top between Trump and Putin, Trump said that “the most important meeting will be the second meeting we have”.

“We are going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself, and perhaps we will bring some of the European leaders-maybe not … it will be very important.”

“We will see what’s going on,” said Trump. “And I think President Putin will make peace.”

The day before the summit, Trump predicted that his meeting with Putin was 25% chance of failing squarely, but he said that hope was to put pressure for a second meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

President Donald Trump is seen in the White House in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2025. (Jessica Koscielniak / Reuters)

“This meeting sets up the second meeting,” Trump told Brian Kilmead of Fox News, adding that the second meeting would be “extremely important”, and suggested that there would probably be negotiations on land exchanges, a concept of Zelenskyy had opposed.

Could Trump meet with Putin be the next moment Reagan-Gorbatchev?

Zelenskyy is not part of Friday summit. The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump accepted the meeting at Putin’s request.

“The goal of this meeting for the president is to leave with a better understanding of how we can end this war,” Leavitt said in a recent White House press briefing. “I think that the President of the United States puts himself in the room with the president of Russia, sitting face to face rather than speaking on the phone will give this president the best indication of how to put an end to this war and where it is heading.”

However, Zelenskyy argued that any decision to end the war taken without Ukraine would be impossible.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly said that he was open to meeting Putin directly to end the war, although Putin has so far refused.

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the right, and President Donald Trump speak as they attend the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday April 26, 2025. (Ukrainian presidential press office via AP)

Putin rents

“All the decisions made against us, all decisions made without Ukraine – these are simultaneously decisions against peace,” Zelenskyy said in a press release on Saturday. “These are dead decisions; they will never work. And what we all need is a real living peace, the one that people will respect.”

However, as recently as Wednesday, Zelenskyy said that there was “no sign” that Russia is preparing to end the war.

The Ukrainian leader wrote on X Wednesday, saying: “This war must be finished. Pressure must be exerted on Russia for just peace. The experience of Ukraine and our partners must be used to prevent Russia’s deception.”

“Currently, there is no sign that the Russians are preparing to end the war,” he added. “Our coordinated efforts and our joint actions – from Ukraine, the United States, Europe and all countries seeking peace – can certainly force Russia to make peace.”

Zelenskyy, before Trump-Putin’s meeting, says that there is no `signe ” Russia wants to end the war

Zelenskyy also wrote on X recently: “The path to peace for Ukraine must be determined with Ukraine – this is fundamental.”

“It is important that joint approaches and a shared vision work towards authentic peace. A consolidated position. Cease-fire. End of the occupation. End of war,” he also said.

President Donald Trump, on the right, meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the first day of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan on June 28, 2019. (Kremlin Press Office / Handout / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)

Zelenskyy also said that he also discussed the possibility of holding high-level talks organized by Turkey, which welcomed previous diplomatic negotiations which did not obtain sustainable cease-fire competitors, but who have published thousands of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war.

“We are ready for any meeting format aimed at arresting the murders and ending the war,” said Zelenksyy. “President Erdogan confirmed the preparation of his country to organize a summit of leaders of Ukraine, the United States, Russia and Turkey.”

Putin, however, congratulated Trump for having made “sincere efforts” to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, claiming that the United States made “fairly energetic and sincere efforts to stop hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that interest all parties involved in this conflict”, according to Reuters.

Putin would also have mentioned the “possible future agreements in the field of control over strategic offensive weapons”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Security Council by videoconferencing at Kremlin in Moscow on March 28, 2025. (Sergei Ilyin / Pool / AFP / Getty Images)

Russia and the United States have the world’s largest nuclear weapons arsenals and have a treaty of the number of weapons they may have, which should expire in February, adding more pressure to the future talks. The new strategic weapon reduction treaty covers strategic nuclear weapons and caps the number of warheads deployed to 1,550 on each side, according to Reuters.

There has already been a certain nuclear tension between the two nations in recent weeks, because Trump has ordered two nuclear submarines to get closer to Russia after the former president of the country made “very provocative declarations”. The Kremlin minimized this decision, but warned all the “very, very prudent” parties on nuclear rhetoric, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, journalists pressed Trump on Thursday, the day before the summit, on the question of whether his agreement to meet Putin could end up “rewarding” the Russian president for his invasion of Ukraine.

Trump made fun of the issue and said, “No. I don’t think it’s a reward.”

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“What we have is a situation that should never have started – she should never have started,” said Trump. “It did not start under me. And for four years, it was not even discussed. And I could see that it was going to happen. After my departure, I could see what was going on. Everything we did was bad, everything that was done was bad. Everyone is to blame. Putin is to blame. They are all to blame.”

“This war would never have occurred when I was president. If I was president, this war would never have arrived,” said Trump. “But millions of people have been killed and I’m here for a reason: to see if I can solve this problem. It was Biden’s war.”

Caitlin McFall of Fox News Digital, Greg Norman and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.