U.S. President Donald Trump has revealed plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week.
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This announcement has sparked speculation that the summit might consider a controversial territorial exchange as part of the efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
The Kremlin confirmed the meeting on Friday, describing the choice of location as ‘quite logical,’ and stated that the two leaders would talk about ‘long-term peaceful settlement options’ for the conflict, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and millions displaced since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Trump shared 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.’
Earlier at the White House, Trump suggested that ‘some swapping of territories’ might be considered ‘to the betterment of both’ Ukraine and Russia, although he did not provide further specifics.
Meanwhile, Putin has been in discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in advance of the summit.
Both leaders have been advocating for their own peace initiatives, but progress has been limited. According to China’s state news agency, Xi expressed support for dialogue between the U.S. and Russia, stating that improved relations could ‘promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.’
The Alaska meeting will be the first in-person meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a Russian president since Joe Biden’s meeting with Putin in Geneva in 2021, and the first Trump-Putin meeting since the 2019 G20 summit in Japan.
Despite several rounds of negotiations in Istanbul and other locations, achieving peace remains a challenge. Russia continues to hold firm on its territorial demands, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that any agreement must involve direct discussions with him, a condition that Putin has yet to accept.
On the ground, Russian attacks continue to wreak havoc in eastern and southern Ukraine.