ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AFP) — US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet on Friday in Alaska in a high-risk summit that could prove decisive for the future of Ukraine.
Putin will step onto Western soil for the first time since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a relentless war that has killed tens of thousands of people and has seen Russia make rapid gains just before the summit.
Trump extended the invitation at the Russian leader’s suggestion, but the US president has since been defensive and warned that the meeting could be over within minutes if Putin does not compromise.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Anchorage, Trump sounded a positive note.
“There’s a good respect level on both sides and I think something’s going to come out of it,” he said.
Every word and gesture will be closely watched by European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not included and has publicly refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia.
“It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,” Zelensky said in a social media post.
Trump has called the summit a “feel-out meeting” to test Putin, whom he last saw in 2019, and said Friday that he was not going to Alaska to “negotiate.”
“I’m here to get them at the table,” he said of the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would not forecast the outcome of the meeting.
“We never make any predictions ahead of time,” Lavrov told Russian state TV after he reached Alaska, wearing what appeared to be a shirt with “USSR” written across it in Cyrillic script.
Russia’s “position is clear and unambiguous,” he said.
Trump has promised to consult with European leaders and Zelensky, saying that any final agreement would come in a three-way meeting with Putin and the Ukrainian president to “divvy up” territory.
Trump has boasted of his relationship with Putin, blamed predecessor Joe Biden for the war and had vowed before his return to the White House in January that he would be able to bring peace within 24 hours.
But despite repeated calls to Putin, and a stunning February 28 White House meeting in which Trump publicly berated Zelensky, the Russian leader has shown no signs of compromise.
Trump has acknowledged his frustration with Putin and warned of “very severe consequences” if he does not accept a ceasefire — but also agreed to see him in Alaska.
The talks are set to begin at 11:30 am (1930 GMT)at Elmendorf Air Force Base, the largest US military installation in Alaska and a Cold War facility for surveillance of the former Soviet Union.
Adding to the historical significance, the United States bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia — a deal Moscow has cited to show the legitimacy of land swaps.
The Kremlin said it expected Putin and Trump to meet alone with interpreters before a working lunch with aides.
Neither leader is expected to step off the base into Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, where protesters have put up signs of solidarity with Ukraine.
The summit marks a sharp shift from the approach of Western European leaders and Biden, who vowed not to hold discussions with Russia on Ukraine’s future unless Kyiv was also at the table.
Putin faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, leading him to curtail travel sharply since the war began.
However, the United States is not party to the Hague tribunal and Trump’s Treasury Department temporarily eased sanctions on top Russian officials to allow them to travel and use bank cards in Alaska.
Zelensky has called the Alaska summit a “personal victory” for Putin, whose forces have gone on the offensive in eastern Ukraine in recent days.
With the trip, Putin “is coming out of isolation,” Zelensky said, and he has “somehow postponed sanctions,” which Trump had vowed to impose on Russia if there was no progress.