In a dramatic turn in the three-year-long war in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the conflict. The high-stakes meeting is also expected to involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who Trump says is close to agreeing to a ceasefire deal.
Speaking to reporters at the White House earlier in the day, Trump hinted that any agreement could involve territorial adjustments. “There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” he said, without elaborating on the specifics.
In his evening address, Zelenskiy said a ceasefire was possible if the right amount of diplomatic and political pressure was applied to Moscow. The Ukrainian leader revealed he has been in touch with multiple world leaders, stressing that his team remains in constant communication with Washington.
The Kremlin currently claims control over four Ukrainian regions — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson — as well as Crimea, annexed in 2014. However, Russian forces do not fully control all of these territories. Accepting the loss of roughly 20% of its land would be a bitter pill for Kyiv, both politically and emotionally, but Ukraine has signaled a willingness to explore compromises in pursuit of peace.
A Delicate Diplomatic Balancing Act
According to Bloomberg News, the tentative U.S.-Russia deal would halt Russian offensives in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions along current battle lines, effectively locking in Moscow’s territorial gains. But Tyson Barker, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and former U.S. State Department official, warned that such a plan would be “immediately rejected” by Ukrainians.
“The best the Ukrainians can do is remain firm in their objections while showing gratitude for American support,” Barker said.
Alaska as the Diplomatic Stage
The upcoming meeting will be the most high-profile diplomatic event hosted in Alaska since 2021, when U.S. and Chinese officials clashed publicly in Anchorage during Joe Biden’s presidency. For Trump, Alaska offers a symbolic midpoint between Washington and Moscow, and perhaps a neutral ground for negotiations.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has made repairing ties with Russia and ending the war in Ukraine a top foreign policy goal. But his relationship with Putin has been a mix of praise and frustration. Just this week, Trump threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs on Russia — and on countries buying its exports — unless Putin agreed to halt his military campaign.
The administration already took action on Wednesday, slapping a 25% tariff on goods from India in response to its imports of Russian oil. Meanwhile, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow for three hours on Wednesday, talks described as “constructive” by both sides.
Cautious Optimism from Allies
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a close ally of Ukraine, said there were “signals” that a pause in the fighting might be close. “There are hopes for this,” Tusk noted after talks with Zelenskiy, adding that Kyiv wants European nations to play a role in shaping any ceasefire and eventual peace settlement.
For now, all eyes are on August 15, when Alaska could become the stage for one of the most consequential diplomatic encounters in recent history — and possibly, the first step toward ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
