U.S. President Donald Trump declared on Friday, August 8, 2025, that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska.
The development comes after Trump's previous statements that he would expect to have a meeting "very shortly" with Putin to talk about potential measures towards the cessation of the war in Ukraine. The development is being framed as historic, following weeks where Trump had complained about the absence of progress towards stopping the war.
The long-awaited meeting between myself, President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will occur next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska," Trump posted on his Truth Social page.
This will be the first in-person meeting between Trump and Putin since Trump came back into the White House.
Addressing the White House after releasing a framework that will assist in easing long-standing tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump earlier refused to specify the exact timing and location of his meeting with Putin. At that time, he told reporters that those details would come soon and indicated it could happen before holding formal talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
We're going to have a meeting with Russia, begin with Russia. And we'll pick a place to announce. I think the place will be a very popular place," Trump said at the time. He went on: "It would have been earlier, but I guess there's security preparations that unfortunately people have to make. Otherwise I'd do it much sooner. He would, too. He'd like to meet as soon as possible.". I concur. But we will be making that announcement very soon.
Were it to happen, the Alaska summit would be the first meeting of U.S.-Russia leaders since 2021, when then-U.S. President Joe Biden met with Putin in Geneva. Although it would be a potential breakthrough in Trump's effort to bring an end to the war, fundamental differences between Moscow and Kyiv ensure that a swift resolution is a long way off. The Kremlin has not yet confirmed the meeting.
Nevertheless, Trump sounded hopeful, saying, "President Putin, I think, would like to see peace, and Zelenskyy would like to see peace." He added, "In fairness to President Zelenskyy, he's receiving everything he requires to, pending we get something accomplished." Trump also hinted that a peace treaty could include "some exchange of territories" between Russia and Ukraine, without going into details.
When queried if this was the last chance to achieve a big peace agreement, Trump responded, "I don't like using the word last chance," and went on to say, "When those guns start firing, it's awfully difficult to get 'em to stop.
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