US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands at the beginning of a meeting in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018. (Photo by AP)
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will meet in Alaska on August 15 to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine, which, according to Trump, would involve a land swap.
Trump announced in a post on his Truth Social account on Friday that he will meet Putin next Friday in Alaska — a land sitting approximately 88 kilometers away from Russia across the Bering Strait.
It will be their first face-to-face meeting since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
“We are going to have a meeting with Russia. We’ll start off with Russia,” Trump said as he hosted leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House.
“It’s very complicated. But we’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later or tomorrow,” Trump said.
Putin also confirmed on Thursday preparations for a meeting with Trump, noting mutual interest in a bilateral meeting.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov also told reporters on Saturday that Russia and the US will devote the coming days to preparing for the Alaska summit.
“In the coming days, Moscow and Washington will, of course, devote themselves to the most active and intense work on the practical and political parameters of the Alaska summit. It will be a difficult process, but we will work on it actively and intensively,” he noted.
The statements about the upcoming meeting came after US special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow on Wednesday and met with Putin. The conversation lasted about three hours.
Nevertheless, Trump’s peace-making façade meets opposition from both sides of the conflict.
Ukraine and its European allies have long opposed any agreement that involves ceding territory — including Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia — to Russia.
On the other hand, Putin has repeatedly said that any deal must require Ukraine to relinquish some of the territories Russia has seized since 2014.
Moreover, Putin wants an end to Kiev’s efforts to join the NATO military alliance, as well as a pause to Western aid for Ukraine.
The US announcement to meet with Russia came on the same day a deadline Trump imposed on Russia to reach a ceasefire passed without any new agreement.
After taking office in January, Trump rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in favor of Putin. He blamed Kiev’s ambitions of joining NATO for provoking Russia’s military campaign in February 2022.
However, his inability to bring the Ukraine war to a close has become a source of resentment between him and Putin.
Last week, Trump demanded that Russia pause its operations or face new sanctions and secondary tariffs on key trading partners.
On Wednesday, Trump raised tariffs on Indian goods to 50 percent in response to its purchase of Russian oil.
Still, this week, Trump hailed “great progress” in the peace negotiations as Witkoff visited Putin in Moscow.
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