President Trump on Friday said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a week in Alaska and that swapping territories will be discussed in potential peace talks between the Kremlin and Ukraine.
“I think we’re getting very close, and we’re going to be announcing later on — we’re going to have a meeting with Russia, start off with Russia,” Trump said at the White House on Friday. “And we’ll announce the location; 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; I just don’t want to do it now because of the importance of what we just did.”
Hours later, Trump on Truth Social posted that the meeting would be Aug. 15 in Alaska.
“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!” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump at the White House was asked about the potential for peace talks he was hosting the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, who were signing a peace accord after years of conflict.
Trump elaborated on what a peace deal with Russia and Ukraine could look like after Putin reportedly presented the administration with a ceasefire proposal that involved Ukraine making territorial concessions.
“You’re looking at territory that’s been fought over for three and a half years. A lot of Russians have died, a lot of Ukrainians. So we’re looking at that, but we’re actually to get some back and some swapping. It’s complicated. It’s actually — nothing easy. It’s very complicated. But we’re going to get some back. And we’re going to get some switched,” Trump said. “They’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later or tomorrow or whatever.”
Asked if he could soon be hosting a similar event alongside Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump said he thinks “we have a shot at it,” adding “we’re going to get it solved.”
“European leaders want to see peace, President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace, and Zelensky wants to see peace,” Trump said.
He then punted to Zelensky to prepare to sign a ceasefire agreement.
“Now, President Zelensky has to get all of his, everything he needs, because he’s going to have to get ready to sign something and I think he’s working hard to get that done,” the president said.
Putin last was hosted in the United States by former President Obama in 2015, when he attended the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. The Obama-Putin meeting at the time was roughly 90 minutes, and the two leaders spoke about Ukraine and Syria.
Trump met Putin six times during his first term. In 2018, the two leaders met in Finland and held a joint press conference, during which they discussed Russian interference in the 2016 election, North Korea and nuclear proliferation.
Putin and Biden met once during the last presidency, holding talks in Geneva in 2021.
Trump had been weighing whether to meet with Putin, as well as Zelensky, in the coming weeks and raised the idea of meeting with the two leaders during a call with European allies on Wednesday, a source confirmed to The Hill. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt this week said Russia had expressed an interest in meeting with Trump.
This story was posted at 4:52 p.m. and updated at 6:34 p.m. EDT
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