United States President Donald Trump has confirmed he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine, even as his self-imposed deadline for Moscow to agree to a ceasefire passed without any fresh commitments.
Trump, speaking on Friday while hosting leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House, suggested that any peace deal could involve “some swapping” of territory – a prospect likely to spark strong opposition from Kyiv and its European allies.
“We are going to have a meeting with Russia. We’ll start off with Russia,” Trump said, offering few details on whether his months-long effort to broker a peace settlement had made headway.
He added, “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.”
Ukraine has consistently rejected any deal that involves ceding occupied regions – including Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – to Russia.
Putin, however, has insisted that Ukraine must relinquish some of these territories as part of any agreement. He has also called for an end to Western military aid for Kyiv and for Ukraine to abandon its NATO membership ambitions.
The planned meeting in Alaska has raised logistical questions, as Putin is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
While ICC member states are obliged to detain him if he enters their territory, the United States is not a member and does not recognise the court’s authority.
The Kremlin had earlier suggested the possibility of holding talks in the United Arab Emirates, also not an ICC member.
However, Trump announced via Truth Social on Friday that he would welcome Putin to Alaska – the US northernmost state, separated from Russia by just 55 miles (88 kilometres) across the Bering Strait.
Friday’s announcement coincided with the expiration of Trump’s deadline for a ceasefire, a date set weeks earlier as he expressed growing frustration with Russia’s continued military assaults and apparent reluctance to strike a deal.
The August 15 meeting will be the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and Putin since 2019, during Trump’s first term. Throughout that period, Trump broke with decades of US diplomatic precedent by maintaining an unusually warm stance towards the Russian leader.
Earlier this year, he appeared to side with Putin over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, blaming Kyiv’s NATO ambitions for provoking Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump told Zelenskyy in a heated exchange during a televised meeting at the White House in February. Despite portraying himself as a “peacemaker,” Trump’s inability to secure an end to the conflict has strained his relationship with the Kremlin.
Recently, Trump has become more vocal in his criticism of Moscow. Last week, he condemned renewed Russian strikes on Kyiv, calling them “disgusting.”
He warned that Russia must halt its attacks or face new sanctions and additional tariffs on key trading partners. On Wednesday, he increased tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent in response to India’s purchase of Russian oil.
Despite the passing of the deadline, Trump claimed “great progress” in negotiations, pointing to a visit by his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow for talks with Putin. However, as of Friday, neither side had announced any new measures or concessions.
Analysts suggest Putin may be deliberately prolonging the negotiations to extend the war, and it remains uncertain whether Trump’s unpredictable diplomatic style has altered the ceasefire calculus since he took office.
Follow us
