Trump and Putin Summit Begins in Alaska

(Patria) - U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have arrived in Alaska for a major summit and talks aimed at a possible solution to the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Shortly after Air Force One landed at Joint Base Elmendorf near Anchorage, the White House announced that Trump would not be meeting privately with Putin, as previously planned.

He will be joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, while Putin will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Foreign Policy Advisor Yuri Ushakov.

Although the two leaders have spoken at least five times since Trump returned to the White House in January, the meeting in Alaska will be their first direct encounter.

"Look, he's a smart guy. We get along. There's a good level of respect on both sides. And I think, you know, something will come out of the summit," Trump told reporters shortly after taking off from a Washington airport.

With Ukrainian officials excluded from the talks, today's meeting, held at a military base near Anchorage, is shaping up to be a pivotal moment for war-weary Ukrainians, for Trump's peace ambitions, and for Putin's efforts to redefine Russia's position on the world stage.



"We are counting on America. We are ready, as always, to work as productively as possible. The main thing is that this meeting opens the right path to a sincere peace and substantive talks between the leaders in a trilateral format: Ukraine, the United States, and Russia," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram after Trump took off.

European leaders, who have also been kept on the sidelines, express concern about possible deals that could weaken Ukraine or undermine Europe's ability to support it and counter Russian threats.

For the Russians, the symbolism of Putin meeting on American soil – and on territory that once belonged to Russia – represents a small victory.

Putin can no longer travel abroad freely due to an arrest warrant for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court, and the West no longer accepts him due to his war against Kyiv.

For many, direct negotiations with Washington – while Ukraine is excluded from peace talks – are reminiscent of the Yalta Conference in 1945, when the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain practically divided Europe after World War II.

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Trump ahead of meeting with Putin: I want a ceasefire in Ukraine today

(Patria) - U.S. President Donald Trump, ahead of his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, stated that he wants an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.He emphasized that his main goal is to stop the killing and that he will not be happy if this does not happen.

Trump, confident in his negotiation skills, is increasingly frustrated by his inability to stop Russia's war, which, according to Western estimates, has led to the death or injury of over a million Russian soldiers. Ukrainian casualties also number in the hundreds of thousands.

In comments to reporters, Trump said the delegation accompanying Putin includes business leaders.

"I noticed he's bringing a lot of business people from Russia, and that's good. I like that, because they want to do business, but they won't do business until we get the war over.

We have the hottest country on Earth. We have the hottest economy on Earth, and Putin wants a piece of that, because his country is not economically hot.

Actually, it's the opposite, and China is not doing well economically. But... I want everyone to do well. The war will stop, and the killing has to stop," Trump said.



When asked about the overnight Russian attacks on Ukraine, Trump criticized Putin.

"I think they're trying to negotiate. He's trying to set the stage. I mean, in his mind, it helps him get a better deal. It actually hurts him, but in his mind, it helps him get a better deal, if they can continue the killing.

Maybe it's just his nature, his genes, his genetics, but he thinks that... gives him leverage in negotiations. I think it hurts him, but I'll talk to him about it," Trump stated.

At a meeting with top Kremlin officials, Putin – who has officially spoken with five different U.S. presidents during his 25 years at the helm of Russian politics – expressed optimism about the upcoming meeting yesterday and hinted that a new arms control agreement could be in the works.

"The White House is making quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop hostilities and reach agreements that are in the interests of all parties involved," Putin said in a video released from the Kremlin.

While en route to Alaska, Putin stopped in the Far Eastern city of Magadan, where he laid flowers at a monument dedicated to Soviet-American cooperation during World War II.

Putin has regularly cited American-Russian cooperation in the fight against Nazi Germany as justification for conducting direct negotiations with Washington on the fate of Ukraine.