President Donald Trump welcomed Vladimir Putin to Alaska on Friday with a warmth rarely shown to a U.S. adversary, greeting the Russian president with a handshake, a smile, and even a shared ride in the presidential limousine. The encounter, lasting roughly two and a half hours, marked their first face-to-face meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it took place under the shadow of one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts since World War II.
The summit began on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, where the two leaders clasped hands for an unusually long moment on a red carpet as Cold War–era B-2 bombers and F-22 fighter jets roared overhead. Putin, pointing toward the sky, grinned, unfazed by shouts from reporters demanding to know if he would “stop killing civilians.” Trump then ushered him into “The Beast” for a short ride to the meeting venue, a gesture more typical of close allies than of rivals locked in a geopolitical standoff.
Behind closed doors, Trump and Putin, joined by their top advisers, discussed possible paths to ending the war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff sat in for the U.S., while Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and senior aide Yuri Ushakov. The arrangement marked a shift from Trump’s 2018 Helsinki summit with Putin, when the two met privately with only interpreters present, prompting backlash after Trump appeared to side with the Russian leader over U.S. intelligence agencies.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not invited, forced instead to address the summit indirectly via video, saying he hoped for a “strong position from the U.S.” and adding, “The war continues and it continues precisely because there is no order, nor any signals from Moscow, that it is preparing to end this war.”
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For Trump, the meeting was an opportunity to live up to his self-styled image as a master negotiator capable of brokering peace. He has long claimed he could quickly end the war, though those promises remain unfulfilled. For Putin, it was a chance to secure concessions, halt Kyiv’s NATO ambitions, and reassert Moscow’s influence over Ukraine.
Trump, according to AP, told reporters en route to Alaska that there was a “25%” chance the summit could fail but hinted at follow-up talks involving Zelenskyy if progress was made. He said he would push for an immediate ceasefire but acknowledged doubts about its feasibility, noting Russia’s preference for a comprehensive settlement on its terms rather than a temporary halt in fighting.
The stakes were high. Hosting Putin on American soil for the first time since the invasion risked giving him the legitimacy he craves, while bypassing Ukraine challenged the West’s “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” policy. Trump admitted their talks would address Russia’s demands for Ukraine to cede territory, saying, “I’ve got to let Ukraine make that decision. And I think they’ll make a proper decision.”
Putin, for his part, has tied any ceasefire to halting Western arms shipments and freezing Ukraine’s mobilization, conditions Kyiv and its allies reject. Trump floated the idea of U.S. and European security guarantees for Ukraine “but not in the form of NATO,” a proposal unlikely to satisfy Ukrainian aspirations.
NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, was on hand in Alaska to advise Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a presence likely welcomed by European leaders urging Trump not to strike a deal over Kyiv’s head.
