President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on August 15 in Alaska for their first in-person talks since Trump’s return to the White House — and their first face-to-face session since before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The summit, announced by Trump on Truth Social, comes as the president presses for a peace deal to end the three-year war. It also follows the expiration of a Trump-imposed deadline for Moscow to halt its offensive or face steep economic penalties.
Trump had initially floated a three-way meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but after months of stalled progress, he signaled this week that he was willing to meet Putin without Kyiv’s participation.
On July 28, Trump gave Russia “10 to 12 days” to end the conflict or face “stiff tariffs.” That deadline arrived August 8, with Trump already imposing new measures — including a 25% tariff hike on imports from India, citing the country’s purchases of Russian oil. He has also threatened “secondary tariffs” of up to 100% on countries trading with Moscow, particularly in the energy sector.
The Alaska meeting will be the first between a U.S. and Russian leader since then-President Joe Biden met Putin in Switzerland in 2021. Trump and Putin last sat down in 2018 in Helsinki.
While previous peace talks — such as a May round in Turkey — have failed to bring the leaders together in person, Trump’s team says the Alaska summit will focus on “achievable pathways” toward ending hostilities. Whether those pathways include territorial concessions remains unclear; Trump has previously hinted at “swapping” territories as part of a deal.
Source: USA Today