Trump-Putin Alaska summit: What we know about the upcoming meeting

The Kremlin revealed details about the much-anticipated meeting in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin set to take place on Friday.

Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday the talks will take place at the US Air Force's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage and that the summit programme has been finalised.

The meeting will start with a one-on-one conversation between the leaders in the presence of interpreters at 9:30 pm CEST.

A working breakfast is scheduled right after, and its duration and timing depend on how the initial conversation goes.

After the working breakfast, the talks will continue in a broader format with the delegations.

The Russian delegation will include Ushakov, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Russian Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriev.

The US delegation's lineup has not been announced.

Notably, the Moscow delegation does not include Putin's presidential aide, Vladimir Medinsky, who has been leading the Russian team at the direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul.

Medinsky also represented Moscow at the first attempt at talks in Istanbul in March 2022. His absence broadly demonstrates the Kremlin’s stance on the Istanbul talks with Ukraine and a lack of willingness for a direct dialogue with Kyiv.

Low expectations and high stakes

Putin’s aide Ushakov said the central topic of the Alaska summit is “settlement” of Russia’s war in Ukraine, though economic cooperation and global security will also be discussed.

Ushakov said the Kremlin views it as symbolic that the meeting will take place "near the graves of Soviet pilots in Alaska."

Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation stated that, according to the defence forces centre, Putin might be preparing certain pseudo-historical materials for a meeting with Trump.

These might include geographical maps intended to convince the US president that Ukraine is supposedly an “artificial state,” formed at the expense of territories of other countries.

Putin has repeatedly used this false argument to justify his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Commenting on the upcoming Alaska meeting, Trump has somehow downplayed its importance and consequences, describing it as “setting the table for the second meeting," purportedly between Zelenskyy and Putin.

“We are going to have the second meeting if the first one goes well,” Trump said, adding that he would prefer the second meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy to take place “almost immediately”.

Trump also said that Russia will face severe consequences if the Friday meeting between Trump and Putin doesn't go well in terms of Moscow's willingness to end its war against Ukraine.

Asked if he believed he could convince Putin to stop targeting civilians in Ukraine, Trump replied: "I guess the answer to that is no, because I've had this conversation (with Putin)."

Ukraine’s president said he hopes the central topic at the upcoming meeting in Alaska will be an immediate ceasefire.

“The US president has repeatedly spoken about this. He suggested to me that after the meeting in Alaska, we would be in contact and discuss all the results, if any, and determine our next steps," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

After the meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Wednesday, Zelenskyy went to London Thursday for a brief sitdown with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Ukraine’s president said the discussion focused on possible security guarantees for Kyiv, “if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy.”