The Alaska Summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alleges recent Russian advances are aimed at strengthening Moscow’s bargaining position.
President Donald Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face in Alaska on Friday, marking Putin’s first visit to the U.S. since 2015, when he attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
The two leaders are scheduled to sit down at 3 p.m. ET, with delegations from both countries holding follow-up talks. The discussions are primarily expected to center around terms for a ceasefire and peace deal in Ukraine. Trump told Fox News ahead of the meeting that he was prepared to end discussions if they proved unproductive. “I would walk,” he said, adding, “Europe’s not telling me what to do.”
Earlier this week, Trump also said that there would be “very severe consequences” if Putin doesn’t agree to a ceasefire. However, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he expected the talks to go “very well,” citing record-high U.S. stock markets and tariff revenues. “We’re taking in trillions and trillions of dollars with tariffs,” he said. “If it doesn’t [work out], I’m gonna head back home real fast.”
Asked about the value of meeting in person versus phone calls, Trump initially said “no difference” before noting there is “good respect” between the two leaders. “He’s a smart guy. Been doing it for a long time, but so have I,” Trump said. “We get along. There’s a good respect level on both sides.”
Trump said he welcomed Putin bringing Russian business leaders to the summit, noting they want to do business but are waiting until “we get the war settled.” As reported by The Guardian, the Russian delegation will include Ushakov, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Russian Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriev.
Meanwhile, on the U.S. side, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, and Secretary of State Marc Rubio among others will be accompanying Trump at the Alaska Summit. Putin is expected to push for sanctions relief, arms discussions, and economic cooperation. Trump has proposed economic incentives focused on access to critical natural resources, including minerals in Alaska and occupied Ukrainian regions, as bargaining chips to sway Russian cooperation.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy linked battlefield developments to the timing of the Alaska summit. He said Ukrainian forces were pushing back Russian attempts to gain ground, particularly in the Pokrovsk sector and Zaporizhzhia region, and that Moscow was seeking more favorable political leverage for the talks. “The Russian army continues to suffer significant losses in its attempts to secure more favorable political positions for the Russian leadership at the meeting in Alaska,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
He added that Kyiv’s intelligence services were monitoring Russian preparations for the summit and that a “trilateral format” involving the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia was essential for any “real path toward a just peace.”
U.S. markets were mixed in afternoon trade on Friday as Wall Street awaited the outcome of the Putin-Trump Alaska Summit. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) fell 0.11%, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) tumbled 0.44%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) gained 0.25%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF and QQQ on Stocktwits trended in ‘neutral’ territory. Retail sentiment around DIA trended in the ‘bullish’ zone.
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