Trump-Putin Summit in Alaska Today; First Minutes Could Determine Its Fate

SadaNews - A highly anticipated summit is taking place today, Friday, between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Trump has confirmed that Putin will not be able to "mess" with him, stating that any agreement related to Ukraine will only be made in a later trilateral meeting that includes Kyiv.

The White House has announced that the meeting between Trump and Putin will be held at 11 a.m. local time (7 p.m. GMT).

The two leaders will meet at Elmendorf Air Force Base, a major U.S. military facility in Alaska that plays a crucial role in monitoring Russia.

Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow that "these talks will be held in a bilateral format, of course with the participation of interpreters."

As Russia gains ground in Ukraine, European leaders' concerns have intensified over the possibility that Putin could draw the U.S. president into a settlement imposed on Ukraine.

However, Trump said in a statement to reporters at the White House on Thursday, "I’m the president; he will not mess with me." He added, "I will know within the first two, three, four, or five minutes... whether our meeting will be good or bad."

He continued, "If the meeting is bad, it will end very quickly; if it’s good, it will end with us achieving peace in the near future."

Absence of Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited to the summit, which he described as a reward for Putin, and he has refused to concede any territory to Russia.

Trump confirmed on the eve of the summit that he would not make any deal with Putin and that he would involve the Ukrainian president in any decisions.

He added, "The second meeting will be very important because that will be the meeting in which an agreement is reached. I don’t want to use the term sharing (territories). But you know, in a way, it is not a bad term."

Trump mentioned during an interview with Fox News that he was considering three locations for a follow-up meeting with Putin and Zelensky, although he indicated that the second meeting was not guaranteed.

He stated, "Depending on what happens in my first meeting (with Putin in Alaska), I will contact President Zelensky and we will bring him to wherever we meet."

Trump has boasted in the past about his ability to end the war within 24 hours upon his return to the White House last January, but his calls to Putin and the tremendous pressure he exerted on Zelensky to agree to concessions failed to convince the Russian president. Trump thus warned of "very grave consequences" if Putin continued to ignore his attempts to stop the war.

Putin Welcomes

In contrast, the Kremlin indicated that there are no plans to sign any agreements at the conclusion of the Russian-American summit in Alaska, stating that it is a significant error to predict the outcomes of the talks between Trump and Putin.

Putin welcomed the American efforts to end the conflict on Thursday, saying that the talks could help reach an agreement to control the spread of nuclear weapons as part of broader measures to promote peace.

The Russian president added during a meeting with senior officials in Moscow that "the U.S. administration... is making active and honest efforts to end the fighting."

This will be Putin's first visit to a Western country since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022.

On his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that his country has received U.S. military aid funded by Europe amounting to 1.5 billion dollars.

This came during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London focused on the war in Ukraine, while the British Prime Minister stated that both sides affirmed their strong resolve to achieve a fair and lasting peace in Ukraine.

The Alaska summit coincides with Russia’s significant territorial gains in Ukraine, as authorities in Kyiv ordered the evacuation of families with children from the town of Druzhkivka and four nearby villages in an area where Russian forces have made rapid advances.

Russian forces rapidly advanced on Tuesday by 10 kilometers deep into a narrow sector of the front line near the towns of Dobropillya and Druzhkivka.

This was the largest advance by Russian forces in Ukrainian territory in 24 hours in over a year, according to an analysis by the French press of data from the U.S. Institute for the Study of War.