High-Stakes Summit

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Anchorage today to discuss the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

The summit will serve as the first face-to-face between the two leaders since the start of Trump’s second term. It will also serve as the time the presidents of either country have met in person since Russian troops entered Ukraine in February of 2022.

Russian forces currently control about 20 percent of Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders, including all of Crimea, virtually all of the Luhansk oblast, and the majority of three other Ukrainian oblasts: Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

Ahead of the summit, Trump has indicated he favors land swaps as part of a larger plan to settle the battle lines and bring the fighting to an end.

“We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will not be at the Alaska summit, has opposed the idea of ceding territory to end the conflict.

“Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” the Ukrainian leader said in an Aug. 9 statement.

Following an Aug. 13 meeting with Ukraine’s various international backers, Zelenskyy said he and the other meeting participants also agreed that Ukraine must have security guarantees, and Putin must not be able to preclude Ukrainian membership in the European Union or NATO.

Ukraine has sought entry into NATO for years. Putin, meanwhile, has opposed Ukrainian entry into NATO and has made it a wartime goal to prevent such an outcome.

Trump is open to some non-NATO security guarantees for Ukraine, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.

On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump repeatedly expressed a desire to quickly negotiate an end to the fighting if elected. Despite his attempts since returning to the White House, a deal has remained elusive.

In recent weeks, Trump has shared his frustration with the speed of negotiations. He previously announced an Aug. 8 deadline for Putin to agree to a cease-fire to avoid new sanctions and economic penalties against Russia and its trade partners.

Last week, the U.S. government imposed a new 50 percent tariff on India, a top buyer of Russian fossil fuels. But Trump announced no further economic penalties as his Aug. 8 deadline passed.

Trump appears to be holding off on further tariffs and sanctions actions for now.

Addressing reporters on Aug. 13, Trump said there would be “very severe consequences” for Russia if the Alaska summit doesn’t set them on a path to finally end the Ukraine conflict.

It’s not clear that Putin has to reach a deal at the Alaska summit to avoid more sanctions and tariffs.

Speaking with Fox News Host Brian Kilmeade on Aug. 14, Trump suggested there could be a second meeting in the future.

“It’s like a chess game,” Trump said. “This meeting sets up the second meeting.”

Zelenskyy has expressed an interest in a trilateral discussion on the war. Putin has said he’s open to the idea, but said the conditions aren’t yet right for a face-to-face with Zelenskyy.

—Ryan Morgan 

BOOKMARKS

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