The August 15th summit will be the first in-person meeting of Trump’s second term leaders, when the president is calling for a peace deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump says his encounter with Putin doesn’t depend on Zelensky’s story.
President Donald Trump said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, even if Putin did not meet Ukrainian President Voldimi Zelensky first.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska next week, and will discuss the end of the three-year Russian war with Ukraine in the first in-person session between the two world leaders since Trump returned to the White House in January.
“The highly anticipated meeting between me as President of the United States and myself as President of Russia Vladimir Putin will be held on a massive scale in Alaska on Friday, August 15, 2025,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Society on August 8. “Follow the details. Thank you for paying attention to this issue!”
The announcement comes on the same day Putin’s deadline to end the war in Ukraine. The talks have been floating for several months, initially being to include Ukrainian president Voldymi Zelenkie, and Trump has encouraged negotiations.
When that didn’t progress, Trump said on August 7 that he was open to meeting Putin without the presence of Zelenkey being a prerequisite. On July 28, Trump announced that he would either give Russia 10-12 days to end the three-year war in Ukraine, or face “severe tariffs.” That deadline will fall on August 8th.
Trump has threatened to impose “secondary tariffs” of up to 100% on countries that trade with Russia, particularly those in the energy sector. The president also signed an executive order this week to impose an additional 25% tariff on imports from India in retaliation against the country’s Russian oil imports, and double the US tariff rate in India to 50%.
