When President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin land in Alaska Friday for his or her high-stakes dialogue concerning the warfare in Ukraine, the 2 leaders will carry differing concepts about ending the warfare that Russia started over three years in the past. On the similar time, Ukraine can be watching from the skin with European allies, hoping that Mr. Trump is defending their pursuits.
FILE: President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a one-on-one-meeting on the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
Mr. Trump has tried to decrease expectations going into the assembly, telling reporters the day earlier than, “all I want to do is set the table for the next meeting, which should happen shortly.” The following assembly is an concept he has been floating this week, and he mentioned it might additionally embrace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and maybe different allies. The president raised the likelihood that Zelenskyy might even be a part of them in Alaska inside a few days.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to talks with Putin as “a listening exercise” for Mr. Trump and mentioned his objective “is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war.”
There are a variety of questions going into the summit — chief amongst them is what Russia needs, and whether or not there’s a method to reconcile its calls for with what Ukraine needs. U.S. and Russian counterparts have been talking, and Mr. Trump and Putin have had their very own cellphone conversations.
In March, Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire proposal backed by the U.S., and months later, in Could, when the Kremlin had nonetheless not accepted the phrases, Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned the U.S. was making an attempt to determine if Russia was simply “tapping us along.”
By July, casualties had been mounting in Ukraine as Russia stepped up its bombing marketing campaign with a whole lot of missile and drone strikes. Mr. Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline to conform to a deal to finish the warfare, and later shortened it to a 10-day deadline, threatening harsher tariffs and secondary sanctions. Dmitri Medvedev, the previous president of Russia, responded by mocking Mr. Trump on X. “Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war,” he mentioned, warning that it might not be “between Russia and Ukraine, but with [Trump’s] own country.”
However a day earlier than the president’s 10-day deadline expired — and after Putin had met with U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff — the Kremlin introduced that Putin and Mr. Trump would meet.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday mentioned there can be “very severe consequences” for Russia if it doesn’t agree to finish the warfare after Friday’s assembly, although he declined to elaborate.
Zelenskyy and European companions met nearly 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 cautious of the Trump-Putin assembly. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk mentioned Wednesday of the summit, “The most important thing is that Europe convinces Donald Trump that one can’t trust Russia,” including, “no one should think of recognizing Russia’s right to demarcate borders for its neighbors.” Zelenskyy gained’t be there to signify Ukraine’s pursuits, and Mr. Trump has proven he’s typically reluctant to criticize Putin.
What Russia needs
Specialists say Putin has a number of aims that gained’t be shared by the U.S. and Ukraine, and Mr. Trump should train warning.
Putin would like to see the U.S. discontinue its monetary assist for Ukraine, mentioned Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Basis for Protection of Democracies’ Middle on Navy and Political Energy.
“He wants to sideline the power of the United States so that he can more effectively prey on Ukraine,” Bowman mentioned, including that on the similar time, Putin will “try to make the invaded look like the villain.” Whereas Mr. Trump goals to finish the warfare Russia started, Putin is prone to attempt to seize on Mr. Trump’s want for peace.
“‘He’s going to try to gain Trump’s support for a bad peace,” Bowman mentioned, including, “Some peace agreements are bad because they lead to more war.”
John Lough, an affiliate fellow within the Russia and Eurasia program and the British think-tank Chatham Home, predicted that Russia would “put something in front of [Trump] that he will buy into and say, ‘This is a way out of the war, and I like that, and I’m now prepared to go lean on the Ukrainians again and the Europeans and we’ll get this over the line.’”
However Lough additionally believes that for Russia, the assembly is “high risk.”
“They may not get what they want, but they will at the very least be hoping that it guides the sort of next phase of the process of getting Ukraine to the table, and, I suppose, conducting the negotiations within a framework with which that comes,” Lough mentioned.
Russia, Lough mentioned, needs “to get the framework of the peace agreement settled and then talk about a ceasefire, whereas Ukraine, its allies and, to a degree, President Trump has said, ‘No, we start with a cease fire and then we build around that.’”
Map of Ukraine exhibiting areas claimed by Russia in addition to Russian territorial advances as of Aug. 12, 2025.
Graphic by GUILLERMO RIVAS PACHECO,JEAN-MICHEL CORNU/AFP through Getty Photographs
Daniel Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland and former assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, thinks Putin might attempt to insert a wedge between the U.S. and its allies.
“He wants to get out of this meeting without any cost and to slice away at the American position and maybe draw Trump out so that there’s a gap between him and Zelenskyy, Trump and the Europeans,” Fried mentioned in a press name Wednesday.
After Mr. Trump’s extra skeptical feedback about Putin because the assembly was scheduled, Fried mentioned, “I am less worried about that than I was three days ago.”
Fried, who’s now a fellow on the Atlantic Council, mentioned that for Putin, an amazing final result can be to “dazzle” Mr. Trump with a faux provide and to stroll away with a giant smile.
At talks in June, the Kremlin introduced a memorandum providing Ukraine two choices for a 30-day ceasefire, which might give some perception into Putin’s maximalist calls for.
The primary would have required Ukraine to withdraw its forces from 4 areas illegally annexed by Russia, however which Russia by no means absolutely managed: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
The second choice concerned quite a lot of circumstances together with a requirement that Ukraine wind down its army effort, stop receiving army support, exclude any worldwide army forces from its territory, elevate martial regulation after which swiftly maintain an election.
As a part of a peace treaty, Russia mentioned it might require worldwide recognition of Russian sovereignty over some Ukrainian territories it at present occupies, together with Donbas and Crimea, and a pledge by Ukraine to not be a part of any army alliances — an finish to its efforts to hitch NATO — or enable any international militaries to function or have bases in its territory.
Russia additionally mentioned it might desire a cap on the power of Ukraine’s armed forces and for Russian to turn into an official language in Ukraine.
Wendy Sherman, a former deputy secretary of state who has sat throughout from Putin earlier than, mentioned the Russian chief has no actual curiosity in ending this warfare — he’s merely “buying time.”
What Ukraine needs
Ukraine needs an finish to Russia’s assault and its full withdrawal from their territory.
“There must be an honest end to the war. And it depends on Russia,” Zelenskyy mentioned on social media earlier this month. “It is Russia that must end the war it started.”
Mr. Trump mentioned earlier this week {that a} ceasefire settlement between Russia and Ukraine would contain “some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody. To the good, for the good of Ukraine. Good stuff, not bad stuff. Also, some bad stuff for both.”
That prompted a response from Zelenskyy, who mentioned Ukraine wouldn’t surrender any of its territory to Russia. Ukraine’s structure doesn’t enable him to formally cede elements of the nation.
“We will not reward Russia for what it has perpetrated,” Zelenskyy mentioned in a social media put up final weekend. “The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question already is in the Constitution of Ukraine. No one will deviate from this — and no one will be able to. Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.”
Regardless of such statements, John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Middle, mentioned Zelenskyy has demonstrated he’s prepared to compromise.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Zelenskyy understands that territorial concessions may be required to get a durable peace,” Herbst mentioned.
One other main concern is whether or not Putin, together with his deep data of Ukraine, might attempt to manipulate Mr. Trump, mentioned former intelligence official Andrea Kendall-Taylor, who specialised in Russian affairs.
Ukraine and Russia’s troubled historical past
Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union earlier than voting for independence in 1991.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, the NATO alliance expanded eastward, including former Soviet republics together with Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, and it established an in depth partnership with Ukraine. In 2008, the alliance declared its intention for Ukraine to hitch NATO sooner or later sooner or later.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has mentioned on quite a few events that he views NATO’s enlargement as a risk to Russia. He has additionally mentioned that he believes Ukraine to be a part of Russia politically, culturally and linguistically.
Some Ukrainians, primarily in japanese areas, are Russian-speaking and really feel extra carefully aligned with Russia than the nation of Ukraine. However the majority of Ukrainians communicate Ukrainian, really feel a deep patriotic connection to Ukraine and have favored growing nearer ties to Europe.
Widespread protests erupted in Ukraine in 2014 when the pro-Russian president on the time refused to signal an EU affiliation settlement. The general public outrage compelled him from workplace — an obvious victory for Ukrainians who favored nearer ties to Europe. However shortly after, Russia annexed Crimea, a peninsula that was internationally acknowledged as a part of Ukraine, and the Kremlin supported a pro-Russian separatist rebel in Ukraine’s east.
In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, attacking cities throughout the nation, together with the capital, Kyiv. Some anticipated Russia to shortly take over, however Ukrainians fought arduous to defend themselves, Russian features largely stagnated behind entrance strains within the east, and the warfare has raged on ever since.
