Donald Trump announced on Friday, August 8, on his Truth Social network that his "highly anticipated meeting" with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, would take place on Friday, August 15, in the northwestern U.S. state of Alaska. Moscow confirmed that the summit, intended to discuss a settlement to the war in Ukraine, would include territorial concessions, according to the U.S. president.

The US president, who has repeatedly promised to end the war in Ukraine, has spoken to the Russian president several times by phone in recent months but has not seen him in person since his return to the White House in January 2025.

Rather than on neutral ground, the meeting will take place in the vast and wild state of Alaska, in the far northwest of the American continent and near Russia, a territory that the latter ceded to America in the 19th century. The Kremlin confirmed the upcoming meeting on Saturday, August 15, calling the choice of Alaska "quite logical." "Russia and the United States are close neighbors, with a common border," Kremlin diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov explained, according to Russian news agencies.

Russia also invited Donald Trump to visit Russia after the August 15 summit.

Trump announces "territory swaps for the benefit of all"

The meeting planned for Alaska will be the first one-on-one between the two leaders since June 2019 in Japan, a year after a summit in Helsinki where Donald Trump struck a decidedly conciliatory tone with the Kremlin strongman. Vladimir Putin has not set foot on American soil since 2015, under President Barack Obama.

This highly anticipated meeting will therefore take place without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has continued to demand a say in the matter. The White House president, questioned earlier Friday whether Ukraine would have to make territorial concessions, replied that "there would be territorial exchanges for the benefit of both parties," without providing details.

"We're talking about territory where fighting has been raging for more than three and a half years (...) it's complicated, it's really not easy, but we're going to get some of it back," he added at the White House, alongside the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, who had just signed a peace agreement.

Moscow is demanding that Ukraine cede four partially occupied regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson), in addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and that it renounce Western arms deliveries and any NATO membership. These demands are unacceptable to kyiv, which wants the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory and Western security guarantees, including continued arms deliveries and the deployment of a European contingent, which Russia opposes.

Speaking about the meeting with the Russian president, "it could have happened sooner, but I guess there are unfortunately security measures that have to be taken," President Trump said. These developments come as the US president issued an ultimatum to Russia last week, which expired on Friday, to move forward with negotiations with Kyiv, or face new US sanctions.

Witkoff's visit to Moscow accelerated negotiations

Russia's large-scale offensive against Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has killed at least tens of thousands of people in both countries and caused immense destruction. After more than three years of fighting, the Ukrainian and Russian positions remain irreconcilable. Russia is accused of blocking talks by maintaining maximalist demands at a time when its forces have the advantage on the front lines and continue to gain ground.

The last round of direct negotiations between the two belligerents, held in Istanbul in July, resulted only in a new exchange of prisoners and soldiers' remains. In an attempt to move things forward, US envoy Steve Witkoff was received this week in the Kremlin by Vladimir Putin, which allowed for a diplomatic acceleration marked by Moscow's announcement on Thursday of an "agreement in principle" for an upcoming summit between the US and Russian leaders.

Recently, Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his "deep disappointment" with his Russian counterpart over the lack of progress in negotiations between kyiv and Moscow. On the ground, the Russian military continues its deadly airstrikes on Ukraine and its assaults on the front lines, where its troops are more numerous and better equipped. Ukraine, along with its European allies, is calling for a 30-day ceasefire, which the Russians are refusing.