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Trump suggests other European leaders could be invited to participate in a second meeting following today’s summit
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Russian and American delegations have arrived in Alaska ahead of the crucial summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin later today.
Ahead of the summit, Mr Trump claimed the Russian leader was “not going to mess around with me”, as the US president hopes to seal a Ukraine ceasefire deal.
The US president also floated the idea that European leaders could be invited to participate in a second meeting, which would include Volodymyr Zelensky.
The main aim of today’s meeting is to set up talks between Putin and the Ukrainian president, Mr Trump told Fox News Radio, adding that he has three locations in mind for such a meeting.
The US president, who is gearing up to meet his Russian counterpart for the first time since 2018, said that he thinks both leaders “will make peace”. Friday’s talks between the presidents will include a one-on-one meeting, a bilateral lunch with both delegations and a press conference, the White House announced.
Earlier on Thursday, the Russian leader praised Mr Trump’s “sincere efforts” towards ending the war in Ukraine, telling Kremlin officials the US is making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the fighting”.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the US, Alexander Darchiev, have arrived in Alaska ahead of talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
The Russian leader has arrived in Magadan town in Russia’s Far East, located about 3,162km from Anchorage in Alaska, where he will meet Mr Trump later in the day.
“We never make any plans in advance. We know that we have arguments; we have a clear, understandable position. We will outline it. Much has already been done here during [Trump’s envoy] Steve Witkoff’s visits, the president [Putin] said so,” Mr Lavrov told Russian media.
“Witkoff spoke on behalf of president Trump. I hope that we will continue this very useful conversation today,” he said, according to Sputnik International.
The Ukrainian military said it struck the port of Olya in Russia’s Astrakhan region yesterday, hitting a ship with drone parts and ammunition from Iran.
Russia uses the port as an important logistics hub for the supply of military goods from Iran, the Ukrainian military said in a statement this morning.
Drew Scott, a former British soldier, joined Ukraine’s International Legion in 2023 and has fought in some of the war’s most vicious battles. As the US and Russian leaders prepare to meet in Alaska, he tells Askold Krushelnycky the mood on the frontline is one of weary resignation to more conflict.
Speaking on the eve of today’s summit with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump said that he thought the Russian leader would do a deal on Ukraine – but the US president has blown hot and cold on the chances of a breakthrough in recent days.
Mr Trump and Mr Putin hold talks in Alaska today, where the US president hopes to seal a ceasefire agreement on Ukraine. The meeting at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska comes amid Ukrainian and European fears that Trump might sell Kyiv out.
A source close to the Kremlin told Reuters it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some unspecified common ground beforehand.
“Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon tomorrow (Friday) because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure),” said the source.
Mr Putin has set stringent conditions for a full ceasefire, but one compromise could be a phased truce in the air war, although both sides have accused the other of flouting a previous accord.
Analysts say Mr Putin could try to look like he’s giving Mr Trump what he wants while remaining free to escalate in Ukraine if he wants to.
“If they (the Russians) are able to put a deal on the table that creates some kind of a ceasefire but that leaves Russia in control of those escalatory dynamics, does not create any kind of genuine deterrence on the ground or in the skies over Ukraine… that would be a wonderful outcome from Putin’s perspective,” said Sam Greene, director of Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis.
US president Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin will take place at 3pm ET (1900 GMT) in Anchorage, Alaska, the White House said in a press schedule statement.
Mr Trump will depart the White House at 6.45am ET (1045 GMT) and leave Anchorage at 5.45pm Alaska Time the same day. He is scheduled to return to the White House early Saturday morning.
US president Donald Trump yesterday said there was only a 25 per cent chance that the summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin would fail.
The US president will meet his Russian counterpart today at the Alaska summit for the first time since 2018.
Mr Trump said if the meeting with Mr Putin succeeds, he could bring Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting.
In a radio interview with Fox News, Mr Trump also said he might be willing to stay in Alaska longer, depending on what happens with Mr Putin.
A Russian oil refinery was set ablaze in an overnight drone attack in Samara Oblast, according to reports.
There was no official confirmation whether the drone attack was launched by Ukraine. Local residents said they heard at least ten explosions around 4am local time, UNN reported.
The drone struck an oil refinery in Syzran, the third-largest city in Samara Oblast, located about 811km from the Ukrainian border.
Short, sweet, and largely symbolic’ might be a reasonable summary of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Downing Street visit on the eve of the US-Russia summit in Alaska.
There will be those who take issue with Zelensky’s swanning around foreign parts at such a time. There will also be those – some, if not many of them, in Russia – who hope that the coming days will, one way or another, spell the end of Zelensky’s power.
For all the missteps and failings on the part of his government in Kyiv, Zelensky is likely to be the person who has to try to shepherd Ukraine from war into peace, and he needs to be supported as perhaps the only one who can.
Read the full analysis here:
Understanding how Vladimir Putin thinks in the run-up to the crucial summit with Donald Trump in Alaska is about understanding what the Russian leader is accustomed to: being dominant at home, but seen as a pariah in most of the democratic world.
In his view, this Friday’s summit is about his grand re-entry onto the international stage and a complex psychological interplay with a US leader who is also fixated on what a “win” over ending (or rather stalling) the war in Ukraine would do for his personal brand.
The dynamics of a summit that has already sidelined Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky – and reduced European leaders to holding their own meeting in Berlin – will be driven by the needs of two men with immense but fragile egos.
Read the full analysis here:
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