Trump greets Putin in Alaska for summit on Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Alaska for high-stakes talks Friday with President Donald Trump, who seeks to negotiate a ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Trump met Putin on the tarmac of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage shortly after the Russian leader’s plane set down at around 10:50 a.m. local time, or 2:50 p.m. ET. Trump had arrived earlier.

Both men deplaned at the same time and walked down respective red carpets toward each other, meeting where those carpets intersected. Trump, who arrived there first, clapped as Putin approached.

They greeted each other with apparent warmth, smiling and exchanging words and patting each others’ arms while shaking hands. They then walked to a riser to watch a flyover of military aircraft.

The two leaders then got into Trump’s armored vehicle, “The Beast,” and drove off. They did not respond to reporters’ shouted questions before departing.

The talks come as Europe — including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was not invited — watches with bated breath.

The state leaders are set to begin their summit around 11:30 a.m. local time (3:30 p.m. ET) at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage, Alaska.

There will then be a working lunch for both delegations, before the presidents hold a joint news conference to summarize their talks.

The presser will undoubtedly be one of the most closely watched events of this year, revealing just how near, or far, the end of the war in Ukraine is — a conflict that has spanned more than 3½ years.

“The president wants to exhaust all options to try to bring this war to a peaceful resolution,” the White House stated ahead of the Alaska summit.

It remains to be seen whether those “options” will ultimately be good or bad for Ukraine.

Not only is a ceasefire at stake — if Trump can persuade Putin to agree to one — but so too are Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Europe’s security, Russia’s economy and geopolitical alliances.

Zelenskyy, who has a checkered relationship with Trump, will be nervous as the talks get underway. On Friday, the president commented on X: “It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America.”

Both he and his European allies fear the U.S. leader could capitulate to skilled negotiator Putin’s likely demands for Moscow to retain occupied Ukrainian territory and cut short Ukraine’s NATO membership aspirations, in return for halting its military offensive.

As he headed off to Alaska on Air Force One, Trump told reporters that “something is going to come of it [the meeting].” When asked about Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine, the president said Putin “thinks that gives him strength in talks, I think it hurts him,” in comments reported by Reuters.

Trump also insisted that Ukraine has to decide about its territory and that security guarantees were “possible along with Europe,” without giving further details.

On Friday, the White House confirmed that the U.S. delegation includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury and Commerce Secretaries Scott Bessent, and Howard Lutnick, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and special envoy Steven Witkoff, as well as other senior U.S. officials.

Moscow released more details about the summit earlier than Washington, however. It was only this week confirmed that the presidents’ talks would be a “one-on-one” meeting.

The Kremlin echoed that view, stating that Trump and Putin will meet “in a tete-a-tete format” behind closed doors with translators in tow, “naturally,” according to Putin’s aide on foreign affairs, Yuri Ushakov.

“Considering that very important topics of a sensitive nature will be discussed, the list of participants in the negotiations is not big,” Ushakov added, in comments translated by NBC News.

Russia’s delegation includes only a few members of Putin’s inner circle, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s investment and trade envoy, as well as Ushakov.

The presidential aide commented that “it is obvious to everyone that the central topic will be the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” including the “broader tasks of ensuring peace and security,” as well as pressing international and regional issues.

Signaling that Russia will be looking to extol the economic benefits of a rapprochement with the U.S., Ushakov added that “an exchange of views is expected regarding the further development of bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic area,” noting that “this cooperation has enormous and, unfortunately, untapped potential.”