President Trump visits Alaska Friday for what the White House has called a „listening exercise“ with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
When President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin land in Alaska Friday for their high-stakes discussion about the war in Ukraine, the two leaders will bring differing ideas about ending the war that Russia began over three years ago. At the same time, Ukraine will be watching from the outside with European allies, hoping that Mr. Trump is protecting their interests.
Their meetings are expected to be capped by a rare joint news conference with the two world leaders — the first such event of its kind since their 2018 summit in Helsinki, when Mr. Trump sided with Putin over his own intelligence agencies about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mr. Trump has tried to lower expectations going into the meeting, telling reporters the day before, „all I want to do is set the table for the next meeting, which should happen shortly.“ The subsequent meeting is an idea he has been floating this week, and he said it would also include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and perhaps other allies. The president raised the possibility that Zelenskyy could even join them in Alaska within a couple of days.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to talks with Putin as „a listening exercise“ for Mr. Trump and said his goal „is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war.“
There are a number of questions going into the summit — chief among them is what Russia wants, and whether there’s a way to reconcile its demands with what Ukraine wants. U.S. and Russian counterparts have been speaking, and Mr. Trump and Putin have had their own phone conversations.
In March, Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire proposal backed by the U.S., and months later, in May, when the Kremlin had still not accepted the terms, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was trying to figure out if Russia was just „tapping us along.“
By July, casualties were mounting in Ukraine as Russia stepped up its bombing campaign with hundreds of missile and drone strikes. Mr. Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline to agree to a deal to end the war, and later shortened it to a 10-day deadline, threatening harsher tariffs and secondary sanctions. Dmitri Medvedev, the former president of Russia, responded by mocking Mr. Trump on X. „Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war“, he said, warning that it would not be „between Russia and Ukraine, but with [Trump’s] own country.“
But a day before the president’s 10-day deadline expired — and after Putin had met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff — the Kremlin announced that Putin and Mr. Trump would meet.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday said there would be „very severe consequences“ for Russia if it doesn’t agree to end the war after Friday’s meeting, though he declined to elaborate.
Zelenskyy and European partners met virtually with Mr. Trump Wednesday, after which Zelenskyy wrote on X: „Together with our partners, we supported the efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump to end the war, stop the killings, and achieve a just and lasting peace. I am grateful to the partners for our shared position: the path to peace.“
European leaders have been wary of the Trump-Putin meeting. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday of the summit, „The most important thing is that Europe convinces Donald Trump that one can’t trust Russia“, adding, „no one should think of recognizing Russia’s right to demarcate borders for its neighbors.“ Zelenskyy won’t be there to represent Ukraine’s interests, and Mr. Trump has shown he’s sometimes reluctant to criticize Putin. What Russia wants
Experts say Putin has several objectives that won’t be shared by the U.
