Trump to meet Putin in Alaska

President Donald Trump said he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a potential breakthrough after weeks of expressing frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting.

- WASHINGTON

The Kremlin has not yet confirmed the details, which Trump announced on social media, but both nations had said they expected a meeting could happen as soon as next week.

Such a summit may prove pivotal in a war that began more than three years ago when Russia invaded its western neighbor and has led to thousands of deaths — although there’s no guarantee it will stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace.

In comments to reporters at the White House before his post confirming the date and place, Trump suggested that any agreement would likely involve “some swapping of territories,” but he gave no details. Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, have suggested that Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside of the four regions it claims to have annexed.

Trump said his meeting with Putin would come before any sit-down discussion involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also previously agreed to meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy. That stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continent’s biggest conflict since World War II.

Trump's announcement that he planned to host one of America's adversaries on US soil broke with expectations that they'd meet in a third country. The gesture gives Putin validation after the US and its allies had long sought to make him a pariah over his war against Ukraine.