USA President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Friday, 15 August 2025. This marks the first time since 2007 that Putin has been invited to the US outside of UN-related functions. It will also be the first meeting between Trump and Putin since 2018.
The two leaders plan on discussing an end to Russia’s three-year war with Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Putin is expected to require territorial concessions in exchange for a ceasefire.
Here is a link to an interactive map of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A few things to note:
- This is the war that Trump promised to end on Day One.
- The meeting does not currently include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has vowed not to concede territory. How a peace summit can be held with only one of the parties present is beyond me? It seems like Trump thinks he can convince Putin to stop... fat chance.
- The Independent's World affairs editor Sam Kiley describes the summit this way: "A Trump-Putin summit will be as useful to Ukraine and democracy as Agent Orange is for gardening"
- The meeting is being held in Alaska, which was formally part of the Russian Empire. The US purchased the state in 1867 for $7.2M—2 cents per acre. Russian nationalists want it back.
- The ICC [International Criminal Court] issued an arrest warrant against Putin in February 2023. Putin "is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation." Trump's hosting Putin in Alaska is a deliberate flaunting of the authority of the ICC and another declaration that he knows what is best... about everything.
Remember this video of Trump's comments about himself
Comments