U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska, United States on 15th of August in a historical summit.
A ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia will be top of the agenda at the meeting which will be held in Anchorage, Alaska.
The location of the meeting, so chosen for its strategic closeness to Russia and marks the first time President Putin will be on American soil since 2015.
It was selected also for its symbolic neutrality, having been part of the Russian empire until 1867 when it was sold to the United States.
Since the summit was announced last week, Trump’s mention of “land swapping” has sparked protests from Ukrainian President and European Leaders who insist that Ukraine's territorial integrity must be upheld.
In a phone call on Wednesday, Trump and Vice-President JD Vance spoke with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well as the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland including EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Nato chief Mark Rutte.
Europe’s leaders, in a joint statement released after the call, restated the importance of involving Kyiv in any decisions to be made regarding its borders.
"It's most important thing that Europe convinces Donald Trump that one can't trust Russia," said Poland's Donald Tusk, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed the leaders had "made it clear that Ukraine must be at the table as soon as follow-up meetings take place".
Following the call, President Trump threatened “severe consequences” hinting at economic sanctions if Russia failed to halt its war in Ukraine.
He also said that if Friday’s summit went well, it would lead to a second meeting involving President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
While responding to a question as to why Zelenskyy was sidelined from the summit billed to hold on Friday, President Trump said “He (Zelenskyy) has been going to a lot of meetings.. He has been there for three and a half years and nothing happened”.
He went on to say “I will know in the first two minutes (of the summit) whether or not a deal can be made.”
Will the summit in Alaska be different?
The Alaskan Summit will be the first time Presidents Trump and Putin will meet one on one since Trump returned to the white house in January 2025.
They had previously met six times in the U.S. President’s first term at the white house notably twice in Helsinki Finland in 2018.
The two however have had three publicized phone calls since President Trump’s inauguration.
A first call which held on 12th February, lasted an hour and half and focused on the situation in Ukraine, in the Middle East, artificial intelligence, energy, and the strength of the U.S. dollar, among other issues.
The second phone call was held the following month on 18th March where Putin had agreed to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities temporarily but declined to endorse a full 30-day ceasefire.
A third call before the anticipated face to face was held on 19th May where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was again discussed between the two heads of state.
The Kremlin said in March that there may have been more contacts between Trump and Putin than the publicly announced telephone calls over recent months.
Despite these numerous calls, there were speculations that Trump had grown tired of the unsuccessful talks and phone calls and had begun to issue ultimatums to Putin.
A joint press conference is expected to follow the one on one meeting with President Trump and President Putin according to white House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
In an interview with Fox News, Leavitt said the U.S. has “plenty of tools” to help bring an end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
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