Live updates: Trump meets with Putin in Alaska for high-stakes Ukraine peace talks
After months of unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine war, President Donald Trump faces a pivotal moment as he meets face-to-face with Vladimir Putin to prod the Russian president on a peace deal.
Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 and has been reluctant to halt the bloody conflict, frustrating Trump, who has lashed out and threatened economic penalties. The Aug. 15 summit is a test of whether Trump can make progress on a deal that is acceptable to both Ukraine and Russia.
More: What's at stake in Trump's Alaska meeting with Putin
The two leaders are meeting at a U.S. military base in Alaska. Not invited: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke with Trump twice this week and has rejected the idea of territorial concessions to end the war.
Trump and the White House have been downplaying expectations for the meeting, with the president saying Aug. 14 that the "more important meeting" will be one that includes both Zelenskyy and Putin. That will come next, he said.
'We're going to see what happens," Trump said Aug. 14. "And I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelensky will make peace. We'll see if they can get along, and if they can, it'll be great."
What time is it in Alaska now? What time does the meeting start?
Alaska is currently four hours behind Eastern Standard Time.
The meeting between Trump and Putin is scheduled to begin around 11 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time, according to the White House, which means it will begin around 3 p.m. ET.
-- Gabe Hauari
A Trump-Putin reunion
Trump and Putin will meet in Anchorage, Alaska, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, home to about 30,000 service members, their families and civilian employees.
Alaska was once part of Russia – the U.S. bought it for $7.2 million in 1867 − and is separated by the Bering Strait from the Russian mainland by just 55 miles at the narrowest point.
More: Trump-Putin summit spotlights Alaska's strategic importance, vulnerability
Trump met with Putin multiple times during his first term, including in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018. Putin denied interfering in the 2016 election, comments that Trump embraced, saying Putin 'was extremely strong and powerful in his denial" despite U.S. intelligence assessments pointing to interference by Moscow on Trump's behalf.
-Zac Anderson
Trump's relationship with Putin in the spotlight
Trump has had a famously warm relationship with Putin over the years, often praising the Russian autocrat. Trump reportedly shared classified intelligence with Russian officials during his first term and tried to soften U.S. opposition to Russia's past aggression against Ukraine and its human rights violations.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and Zelenskyy featured in one of the lowest points of Trump's first term. He was impeached over allegations that he pressured Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on political rival Joe Biden.
Trump's friendly approach to Putin has largely continued as he worked to get a peace deal and focused his ire on Zelenskyy, most notably during an explosive Oval Office meeting when the two clashed publicly. Trump told the Ukrainian leader he didn't 'have the cards' when it came to resolving the conflict in the country's favor.
Lately, though, Trump has repeatedly slammed Putin and complained about his unwillingness to stop the fighting.
Putin escalated his attacks on Ukraine ahead of the summit, which former GOP House speaker and Trump ally Newt Gingrich called 'a sign of very bad faith.' Trump said Aug. 13 that there would be 'very severe consequences' if Putin does not agree to end the war.
-Zac Anderson
Jockeying over territorial concessions
Trump is trying to push Moscow into an accord that Kyiv and its allies fear will include the loss of significant territory seized by Russia in its 3-year-old war.
Speculating about an eventual deal on Aug. 8, Trump said it would involve 'some swapping of territories."
That drew a sharp response from Zelenskyy, who said, 'Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.'
But Trump has continued to push, saying on Aug. 11 that he was a 'little bothered' by the Ukrainian leader's assertion that a land swap would violate the country's constitution.
"There will be some swapping,' Trump insisted Aug. 11. 'There will be some changes in land.'
The debate over territorial concessions hangs over the summit. Putin claims four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014.
-Zac Anderson, Francesca Chambers, Lauren Villagran
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