World watches as Trump and Putin meet in Alaska
ANCHORAGE
Pressure mounts ahead of a landmark summit today in Alaska between the United States and Russia, as Donald Trump warned that Vladimir Putin had only one chance.
Putin and Trump will meet at an air base in the far-northern U.S. state, the first time the Russian leader has been permitted on Western soil since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine which has killed tens of thousands of people.
The two leaders are to discuss ways to settle the Ukraine conflict, the Kremlin said yesterday.
"Of course, broader issues of ensuring peace and security, as well as pressing international and regional issues, will also be addressed," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
The talks are scheduled to start in Alaska at 11:30 a.m. (1930 GMT), Ushakov said.
These will be held "one-on-one" between Putin and Trump, with only their interpreters in attendance.
"This will be followed by negotiations between the delegations, which will continue over a working breakfast," Ushakov added.
Among Russia's delegation will be Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev.
Putin and Trump will give a joint press conference following their meeting, during which they will "summarize the results of the negotiations," Ushakov said.
With stakes high, all sides were pushing hard in the hours before the meeting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has refused to surrender territory to Russia, spoke by telephone on Aug. 13 with Trump, as did European leaders who voiced confidence afterward that the U.S. leader would seek a ceasefire rather than concessions by Kiev.
Trump himself sent mixed messages, saying that he could quickly organize a three-way summit afterward with both Zelensky and Putin but also warning of his impatience with Putin.
"There may be no second meeting because, if I feel that it's not appropriate to have it because I didn't get the answers that we have to have, then we are not going to have a second meeting," Trump told reporters.
Russia, Trump said, would face "severe consequences" if it does not halt its offensive.
But Trump said: "If the first one goes okay, we'll have a quick second one," involving both Putin and Zelensky.
Putin pitched the meeting after Trump threatened sanctions on Russia. Trump has already ramped up tariffs on India, which has become a key buyer of Russian energy.
Zelensky, after being berated by Trump at a February meeting in the White House, has publicly supported U.S. diplomacy but made clear his deep skepticism.
"I have told my colleagues, the U.S. president and our European friends, that Putin definitely does not want peace," Zelensky said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who welcomed Zelensky in Berlin on Aug. 13, said Ukraine is ready to negotiate "on territorial issues" but stressed that legal recognition of Russian occupations "would not be up for debate."
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte declared: "The ball is now in Putin's court."
