The Putin-Trump meeting is scheduled to get under way at 3.30pm ET; US president says he wants to see a ceasefire and ‘won’t be happy if it’s not today’
Welcome to our coverage of the president’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. This will be the first meeting with the Kremlin leader of Trump’s second term in office – and his seventh in total.
I’m Shrai Popat, and I’ll be bringing you the latest alongside my colleagues on today’s events, due to kick-off in just over an hour (3pm ET), at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Donald Trump has said, repeatedly, over the last few days that his chief aim of today’s meeting is to get a trilateral summit between Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and himself on the books. In his own words, Trump wants this to happen “almost immediately”. He’s also convinced that he’ll be able to tell from the first few minutes of his meeting today whether it will be a success, and would be prepared to walk away “real fast” if he thinks it’s not going well, per an interview with Fox News.
Crucially, the president has said he’s not in Alaska to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine, but instead with the goal of “getting Putin to the table”.
However, Trump been less clear on what would constitute a success from his sit-down with the Kremlin leader today. Earlier, on Air Force one, the president told reporters that he wants to see a ceasefire “rapidly.” He added: “I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today”.
The president also repeated his stern words from earlier in the week that Russia could expect “severe consequences” if they fail to show willingness to end the war in Ukraine. “Economically severe. It will be very severe. I’m not doing this for my health, okay, I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives,” the president said.
For Zelenskyy’s part, he said that Ukraine is “counting on America” today. He’s been shut out of talks today, but reiterated his call for “an honest end to the war,” and said he hoped to see “a strong American position” during today’s talks in Alaska.
When it comes to territory negotiations, Trump has said he’s not interested in deciding on those today without Ukraine present, and Zelenskyy has said categorically that Ukraine could not agree to a ceasefire deal which cedes territory, as Moscow could use this as a springboard to start a future war.
Trump confirmed to Zelenskyy that he’ll be calling him first after today’s meeting wraps, and he’s set to brief European leaders after that debrief.
Ahead of the today’s summit, the president posted on Truth Social that he had a “wonderful” call with president Alexander Lukashenko, saying “the purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners,” with 1,300 under discussion. The Belarussian leader is the country’s only president since it adopted its current constitution. Lukashenko has described himself as Europe’s “last and only dictator”, and it a notably Russian ally.
