US President Donald Trump has announced that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15. The talks are expected to focus on the Russia-Ukraine war. The location and date of the talks were later confirmed by Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov, according to the TASS news agency.
"The highly anticipated meeting between me, the President of the United States of America, and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, will take place in the great state of Alaska," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed that the meeting between Putin and Trump will take place in Alaska on August 15, TASS reported. According to Ushakov, Russia and the United States are “close neighbors, so it is quite logical that the summit will take place in Alaska.”
He added that Putin and Trump will discuss the possibilities of achieving a long-term settlement of the"Ukraine crisis" during the meeting. Russian and American officials will focus on preparing for the summit in the coming days, and according to Ushakov, it will not be an easy process.
Zelensky: We will not hand over our country to the occupiers
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reacting to reports of a planned Russian-American summit, stressed that any solution to the conflict with Moscow without Kiev would be a solution against peace. According to him, Ukraine cannot violate constitutional principles regarding its territory, adding that Ukrainians will not surrender their country to the occupiers. According to the Constitution, the territory of Ukraine within its existing borders is indivisible and inviolable.
Axios, citing sources familiar with the situation, reports that senior officials from the United States, Ukraine and several European countries are planning to meet in Britain this weekend to try to unify their positions ahead of Trump's planned meeting with Putin. Kiev and some NATO members, according to the website, fear that Trump might agree to Putin's proposals to end the Russia-Ukraine war without taking their views into account.
A win for Putin, Bloomberg describes a possible deal
Bloomberg reported earlier on Friday that Washington and Moscow are preparing a ceasefire agreement in the Russia-Ukraine war that would solidify Russia's territorial gains in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donbass. Moscow also wants to keep the Crimea peninsula, which it illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Trump spoke at the White House on Friday about a land swap that would “benefit both sides.” Since returning to office in January, Trump has sought to mend ties with Russia, which are at their lowest point in decades, and to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. His public statements have veered between admiration for Putin and harsh criticism of him, Reuters reports.
The agency notes that such an outcome would be a big win for Putin, who would add parts of Donbas, i.e. the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, to the territories currently occupied by Russia, which Russian forces have not been able to control even since the start of the full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
European officials warn of Putin's delaying tactics
Similar information to Bloomberg was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Friday, according to which Putin told the United States that he would stop the war in exchange for eastern Ukraine, especially Donbas. Moscow would not commit to anything other than stopping the fighting. Washington subsequently began preparing a summit between the two presidents, while European officials are rather skeptical, according to the WSJ, because they fear that this is another delaying tactic by Putin and a way to avoid the extensive American sanctions that Trump has announced.
It is not yet clear whether Moscow is ready to give up any of the territory it currently occupies. According to Bloomberg, Kiev has so far made it clear that it will not accept Russian occupation and annexation of its territory. Reuters notes that Ukraine has shown flexibility in finding ways to end the war, but accepting the loss of about a fifth of its territory would be very painful and politically difficult for Zelensky and his government.
Regarding the future of the Ukrainian territories, where Kiev is at war with Russian invading forces, Trump said that they have been fought for three and a half years and many Russians and Ukrainians have died there. “We want to get some back, we want some exchange,” he said. According to him, it will be an exchange that benefits both sides. “It’s complicated, it’s not easy,” admitted the head of the White House, who before taking office in January claimed that he would end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours.
