Since before he entered office, President Donald Trump has vowed to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and following a few false starts in that regard after taking office, he may finally have a chance to make good on that oft-repeated promise.
In a shocking announcement on Friday, Trump confirmed that he will meet one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to discuss possible deals to conclude the deadly hostilities, according to the New York Post.
There remains a tentative plan at the White House to either expand upon or follow that bilateral meeting with a trilateral summit also involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has not unreasonably insisted upon the inclusion of his nation in any serious talks about ending the years-long Russian invasion of its territory.
Trump announces date and location of Putin summit
“We’re going to have a meeting with Russia, start off with Russia, and we’ll announce a location,” President Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “I think the location will be a very popular one, for a lot of reasons, but we’ll be announcing that a little bit later.”
“It would have been sooner, but I guess there’s security arrangements that, unfortunately, people have to make,” he added. “Otherwise, I’d do it much quicker. He would, too. He’d like to meet as soon as possible. I agree with it.”
Just a few hours later, Trump revealed in a Truth Social post, “The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Zelenskyy unhappy about being left out
CBS News reported that, shortly after President Trump announced the time and place of his bilateral meeting with President Putin, a top Kremlin official appeared to confirm and signal agreement with those plans.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, said in a statement, “It seems entirely logical for our delegation to fly across the Bering Strait simply, and for such an important and anticipated summit of the leaders of the two countries to be held in Alaska.”
Unsurprisingly, President Zelenskyy seemed less than thrilled at being excluded from the meeting, nor did he express any confidence in its outcome, and said in a Telegram post, “Any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work.”
Notably, however, an unnamed senior White House official told CBS News that plans remained “fluid” and could still involve Zelenskyy, and Trump himself told reporters that while he intended to “start off with Russia,” he believed that “we have a shot at” arranging a trilateral summit that included the Ukrainian leader.
Possible peace deal being worked out
As for any peace proposals that might involve the cessation of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, CBS News reported that Zelenskyy was adamant that his nation “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done,” as well as that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”
That position could prove problematic to achieving peace, however, as Axios reported that one plausible scenario, purportedly agreed to by Putin, would involve Russia pulling back from two Ukrainian regions it partially occupies, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, while maintaining territorial control over the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as Crimea, which it seized full control of more than a decade ago.
Zelenskyy’s apparent refusal to budge notwithstanding, the Ukrainian position in any peace deal negotiations will likely be worked out this weekend at a high-level meeting of Ukrainian and European senior officials with Vice President JD Vance in the U.K., where the VP is currently vacationing with his family.
CBS News noted that unnamed Ukrainian officials had previously quietly acknowledged that Kyiv would likely agree to a deal that involved ceding to Russia the occupied territory which they had no legitimate chance at regaining militarily, such as Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk.
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Author: Ben Marquis
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