United States President, Donald Trump, has announced he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday, August 15, 2025, in Alaska, a rare visit by the Kremlin leader to U.S. soil and their first meeting in seven years.
The announcement, posted Friday evening on Trump’s Truth Social account, came on the same day as a deadline he had set for Putin to end the war in Ukraine or face sweeping new economic sanctions.
“This highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, will take place next Friday in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow,” Trump wrote.
According to Western officials familiar with the matter, the Alaska summit follows the delivery of a peace proposal from Moscow earlier this week.
Putin’s plan, presented to Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting in the Russian capital on Wednesday, calls for Ukraine to relinquish the eastern Donbas region, largely under Russian occupation and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
The proposal would lock in current battle lines and halt active fighting, though specifics remain unclear, particularly regarding contested areas in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
It also does not fully address Moscow’s long-standing demands that Ukraine forgo NATO membership and limit its military capabilities.
European leaders briefed on the plan have expressed unease, warning it could reward aggression and embolden future Russian offensives.
“Official recognition of territory conquered by force without a cost is an incentive to do more in the future,” one senior European official cautioned.
Despite the concerns, the plan prompted Trump to move ahead with arranging a face-to-face meeting with Putin, his first since the 2018 Helsinki summit. Putin’s last visit to the U.S. was in 2015, when he met with then-President Barack Obama at the United Nations.
Over the past two days, Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been in contact with European counterparts to discuss the proposal.
Witkoff reportedly described it as “a step in the right direction” toward a broader settlement once the fighting stops.
Trump, speaking at the White House before confirming the summit, voiced optimism. “The European leaders want peace. President Putin, I believe, wants peace. And Zelensky wants peace,” he told reporters, later adding, “My instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it.”
However, any agreement involving Ukraine ceding territory would require major legal and political maneuvering in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian constitution forbids such concessions without parliamentary approval or a national referendum.
Trump said he had encouraged President Volodymyr Zelensky to “smooth the path” toward an accord.
Earlier in the week, Trump had threatened to impose new sanctions if Russia did not halt its war by Friday, though on Thursday he softened his stance, telling reporters it would be “up to Putin” whether the deadline held. Asked if Putin would need to meet Zelensky before the Alaska talks, Trump replied, “No, he doesn’t.”
Trump and Putin met six times during his first term, mostly on the sidelines of global summits. Their 2018 meeting in Finland, when Trump appeared to side with Putin over U.S. intelligence agencies, sparked a political firestorm in Washington.
The last U.S.-Russia presidential meeting was in June 2021, when Putin sat down with then-President Joe Biden in Geneva.
The Alaska summit will be the first high-level U.S.-Russia meeting of its kind in years and could mark a turning point in one of the most consequential conflicts of the 21st century.
