An optimistic President Trump touted “a good level of respect” with Russia’s Vladimir Putin as he jetted to Alaska for a high-stakes Ukraine peace summit.
Chatting with reporters on Air Power One, Trump sounded upbeat concerning the possibilities of a breakthrough that would pave the best way to finish the bloody 3-1/2 12 months conflict.
“We get along, there’s a good respect level on both sides,” Trump stated. “I think something’s going to come of it.”
“He’s a smart guy, been doing it for a long time,” he added about Putin. “But so have I. I’ve been doing it for a long time.”
Trump repeated his stance that any last peace deal must be hammered out throughout face-to-face talks between Russia and Ukraine.
AP Photograph/Jae C. Hong
Folks collect outdoors a shopping center to protest in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday, forward of a gathering between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photograph/Jae C. Hong)
Requested whether or not he would talk about potential territorial swaps between Russian occupiers and Ukraine, Trump stated: “I’ve got to let Ukraine make that decision.”
Midway all over the world, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated his embattled nation was watching with bated breath to see if the summit may “open up a real path toward a just peace.”
“It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “We are counting on America.”
Members of the Russian delegation had been largely tight-lipped as they arrived in Anchorage forward of the primary assembly between Putin and an American president since he invaded neighboring Ukraine in 2022.
International Minister Sergei Lavrov sported a retro “CCCP” sweatshirt from the times of the Soviet Union in a potential trace of a hardline stance.
“Our position is clear,” Lavrov stated.
Trump is predicted to greet Putin on the runway upon his arrival at a U.S. Air Power base scheduled for 11 a.m. native time, which is 3 p.m. in New York.
The face-to-face summit will begin quickly afterward, adopted by a lunch with the 2 nations’ delegations, officers stated.
Each side have stated there might be a joint press convention after the lunch. However Trump stated if the assembly doesn’t go effectively he might speak to reporters alone.
He’s anticipated to jet again out to Washington, D.C. late Friday night time.
Though the primary talks are anticipated to solely embody Trump and Putin, each nations included a number of different prime officers of their delegations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are touring with Trump.
Putin stated he hopes to debate points like nuclear arms management and commerce in addition to Ukraine in what some analysts consider may very well be an effort to distract Trump from his main aim of profitable settlement for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Initially Printed: August 15, 2025 at 9:26 AM EDT
