Trump, Putin agree to meet in Alaska; Zelensky might, too
It will be the first in-person meeting between Trump and Putin since the G20 summit in Japan in 2019 during Trump's first term.
Zelensky initially was not invited, a source told The Washington Post, but Trump is considering inviting him, NBC News and The Hill reported on Saturday.
Putin on Thursday said he opposed meeting with Zelensky, saying "for this to happen, certain conditions must be created. Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions."
Trump announced the meeting on Friday night on Truth Social.
"The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska," Trump posted.
The presidents also considered meeting in the United Arab Emirates and Rome.
Because the United States does not recognize the International Criminal Court, it does not have to abide by a warrant issued in 2023 for Putin's arrest on allegations he was involved in the abduction of children from Ukraine during the war. Had the meeting been held in Rome, there were concerns officials would attempt to arrest Putin.
On chances for a deal, Trump told reporters this week that he thinks "we have a shot at" achieving a deal and refused to call the meeting a last chance.
"I don't like using the term 'last chance," he said.
Trump has floated the idea that a peace deal with Ukraine may require the European nation to give up territory -- something Zelensky and many European leaders oppose.
"You're looking at territory that's been fought over for 3½ years with -- you know, a lot of Russians have died, a lot of Ukrainians have died," Trump said. "There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both."
Ukraine currently controls around 4 square miles of Russian land in the western Kursk region, while Russia has one-fifth of Ukraine's sovereign territory -- including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Enerhodar, which is the largest generating station in Europe.
Ukraine had also seized around 500 square miles in August 2024 but later retreated.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and four other regions in eastern Ukraine -- Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- and Putin has proposed Crimea be formally recognized as Russian sovereign territory.
"We're looking at that, but we're actually looking to get some back and some swapping. It's complicated. It's actually nothing easy, [and] it's very complicated. But we're going to get some back, and we're going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both," Trump told reporters when asked if Ukraine will need to give up territory in a peace deal.
Trump also said that the self-imposed deadline for Putin to agree to a cease-fire or face "secondary sanctions" against nations that buy oil from Russia would "be up to him. We're going to see what he has to say -- it's up to him."
On Wednesday, he signed an executive order that doubled the tariff against India to 50% over the Asian nation's imports of Russian oil. The order followed a 50-day ultimatum Trump gave to Putin to reach a truce with Ukraine, and later moved the deadline up to 10 days.
After a three-hour meeting with Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday, Putin told Witkoff that he would agree to a cease-fire if Ukraine withdrew from the Donbas region.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Putin for the first time provided "concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war."
On Saturday, Zelensky reiterated his opposition to giving up land.
"Ukrainians are defending their own. Even those who are with Russia know that it is doing evil. Of course, we will not give Russia awards for what it has done. The Ukrainian people deserve peace. But all partners must understand what a worthy peace is. This war must be ended, and Russia must end it. Russia started it and is dragging it out, not listening to any deadlines, and this is the problem, not something else," he said in Ukrainian in a video posted on Instagram.
He also "Ukraine is ready for real decisions that can bring peace. Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything," Zelensky added in a post on X.
Zelensky also said he spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday and he was "grateful for his support."
He said they both see the danger of "Russia's plan to reduce everything to a discussion of the impossible."
The meeting between Trump and Putin was confirmed by Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin official.
"The economic interests of our countries intersect in Alaska and the Arctic, and there are prospects for implementing large-scale, mutually beneficial projects," he told reporters, according to state-run TASS. "But, of course, the presidents themselves will undoubtedly focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis."
Saturday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance will attend a summit of national security advisers in Britain that includes Ukraine and other European allies.
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