Trump-Putin meeting is under way
Table of Contents
- Trump-Putin meeting is under way
- Ukrainians mock Trump for rolling out the red carpet for Putin
- ‘On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well,’ Zelenskyy says from Kyiv
- Trump-Putin meeting is under way
- Trump and Putin begin summit, joined by respective delegations
- Trump and Putin greet each other as summit begins
- Putin to be joined by Russian cabinet officials at summit
- Putin lands in Alaska ahead of summit
- Emotions run high in frontline Ukrainian city over ceding land to Russia
- Trump-Putin meeting no longer one-on-one, press secretary says
- Trump lands in Anchorage, Alaska
- The view from Alaska: meeting could prove a win-win for Trump and Putin
- Russian government plane lands ahead of summit
- Trump’s pivotal meeting with Putin to begin shortly
The summit between the two leaders and their respective cabinet officials began at 11.32am local time.
Key events
Ukrainians mock Trump for rolling out the red carpet for Putin
As Donald Trump hosts Vladimir Putin for talks in Alaska aimed at ending the Russian war on Ukraine, some Ukrainians watching from afar have noticed that the US literally rolled out a red carpet for the Russian president, who is an indicted war criminal charged with kidnapping Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied regions of their country.
Mustafa Nayyem, a Ukrainian journalist turned politician, posted an image of US soldiers kneeling to secure the red carpet laid at the foot of Putin’s plane before the Russian president emerged with the caption: “Make Kneeling Great Again”.
Nayyem, who helped organize the 2013 protest movement on Maidan, Kyiv’s Independence Square, that toppled Putin’s ally Viktor Yanukovych, was not alone.
Olga Rudenko, the editor of the Kyiv Independent, shared the same image with the caption: “This is Putin’s new phone wallpaper. American soldiers kneeling under the big letters reading RUSSIA. To fix the red carpet. For a war criminal.” The Russian presidential jet is emblazoned with the word RUSSIA, written in Cyrillic letters.
A Ukrainian soldier, Oleksandr Solonko, wrote: “I feel very sorry for the American military who were forced to roll out the red carpet for the greatest war criminal whose propaganda system has been smearing their country for many years.”
The symbolism did not go unnoticed in Russia. Video of the US troops kneeling on the carpet beneath Putin’s plane was posted on Telegram by the Russian news channel Zvezda, or Star, which is owned by the Russian defense ministry. That clip was later shared on X by a German who supports Ukraine and compared Putin to Hitler.
‘On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well,’ Zelenskyy says from Kyiv
As Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin began their summit in Alaska centered on ending Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, delivered an update on the fighting in a social media address from Kyiv.
“On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well. And that speaks volumes,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X accompanying his video update.
He ran through a list of Russian targets. “Sumy – a Russian strike on the central market. Dnipro region – strikes on cities and enterprises. Zaporizhzhia, Kherson region, Donetsk region – deliberate Russian strikes. The war continues, and it is precisely because there is neither an order nor even a signal that Moscow is preparing to end this war,” Ukraine’s president said.
“Russia must end the war that it itself started and has been dragging out for years,” he added. “The killings must stop. A meeting of leaders is needed – at the very least, Ukraine, America, and the Russian side – and it is precisely in such a format that effective decisions are possible. Security guarantees are needed. Lasting peace is needed.”
Trump-Putin meeting is under way
The summit between the two leaders and their respective cabinet officials began at 11.32am local time.
Trump and Putin begin summit, joined by respective delegations
We’re getting some pictures of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, joined by their respective delegations in a room ahead of their meeting. Behind the leaders is a blue backdrop that had the words “pursuing peace” printed on it.
The White House press pool, who are travelling with the president, say that Trump and Putin were sat in place by 11.26am local time, and the press were ushered out of the room by 11.27am.
David Smith
Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie, the US president descended the stairs from Air Force One at 11.08am local time and looked glum as he walked a red carpet.
Trump came to a stop and, as Putin approached, applauded the Russian leader, then gave him a warm handshake and friendly tap on the arm. Putin appeared to crack a joke and both men smiled.
The men walked together towards a platform bearing the sign: “Alaska 2025” Reporters shouted questions at Putin including, “Will you agree to a ceasefire?” and “Will you stop killing civilians?” Putin appeared to shrug.
Putin then joined Trump in the presidential limousine ‘The Beast’ – a rare privilege for allies and adversaries alike – and could be seen laughing.
Trump and Putin drove away in the US president’s official car, nicknamed “the Beast”.
Trump and Putin greet each other as summit begins
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin de-boarded their respective aircrafts, shook hands, and stood on a stage with “ALASKA 2025” emblazoned on the front, as the world’s press captured the moment.
Putin to be joined by Russian cabinet officials at summit
Russian state media is reporting that Vladimir Putin will be joined by his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and advisor Yuri Ushakov for his meeting with Donald Trump. It will now be a three-on-three summit, as the US president will be joined by secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Putin lands in Alaska ahead of summit
Russian president Vladimir Putin has landed in Anchorage, according to Russian state media.
The president has yet to deplane, but is currently greeting Alaska governor Muke Dunleavy and senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, all Republicans, aboard Air Force One, per the White House.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also says that for the expanded bilateral meeting and lunch, Trump, Rubio, and Witkoff will be joined by treasury secretary Scott Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
As we wait for the president to deplane from Air Force One, it’s worth pointing out a nugget that my colleague, Jakub Krupa, reported earlier.
Former Obama administration official and former managing editor of Time magazine, Richard Stengel, has objected to reports describing the Alaska summit as “high-stakes”, arguing on social media that it’s “a journalistic cliche” that “plays into Trump’s theatrical framing of the whole artificial made-for-TV ‘event’”.
Emotions run high in frontline Ukrainian city over ceding land to Russia
Shaun Walker
The city of Zaporizhzhia, an industrial hub in south-east Ukraine, is as good a place as any to grasp the stakes of freezing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along its current frontlines, or of implementing a “land swap for peace” deal as envisioned by Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Since Russian troops began rolling into Ukraine in February 2022, Zaporizhzhia, with its broad avenues and Stalin-era apartment blocks, has been a 30-minute drive from the frontline. It has been under near-constant attack from missiles and drones. On Sunday, a Russian guided air bomb hit a bus station, wounding 24 people – just another day of suffering in a city that has known many of them.
Plenty of people here and in other Ukrainian towns close to the frontline are so weary of the sleepless nights and disrupted lives of the past years that they are ready for Kyiv to sign a peace deal, even an imperfect one, if it means the attacks will stop.
But many others have a very different opinion because they know first-hand what it means to give Russia control over Ukrainian territory: arrests, disappearances and the erasure of anything Ukrainian. As Moscow moves swiftly to Russify occupied territory, expelling or arresting active members of society and introducing new media outlets and school curricula heavy on propaganda, a few years of Russian control may make it almost impossible for Ukraine to regain these territories at a later date.
About one in five people living in Zaporizhzhia are internally displaced, from places even closer to the frontline or from occupied parts of Ukraine. They are living in Zaporizhzhia until they are able to go home.
Read more about the grim reality of ‘land swaps’, and what it would mean for people in Zaporizhzhia.
Trump-Putin meeting no longer one-on-one, press secretary says
The previously planned sit-down between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will now include the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Trump lands in Anchorage, Alaska
Air Force One has touched down at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson ahead of Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Faisal Ali
Ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said that Britain stands with Ukraine on “what will be an important day for the future of Ukraine and Euro-Atlantic security”.
Lammy said he had spoken to Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, and, in a post on social media, added: “I reiterated our enduring support and our commitment to work with the US and Ukraine to secure a just and lasting peace.”
The view from Alaska: meeting could prove a win-win for Trump and Putin
David Smith
Greetings from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a cold war-era military installation on the outskirts of Anchorage, that will play host to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin today.
I am among an estimated 700 journalists from all over the world. We were greeted at Anchorage international airport by the sight of a majestic brown bear slain by Governor Mike Dunleavy and displayed as a trophy in a glass case.
The media gathered downtown at 5.30am local time today and were bused to the air force base under a big sky with picturesque mountains. The airbase is like a small city with housing, children’s playgrounds, nondescript three-storey lodgings, a church with stained glass windows and great grassy expanses. The temperature is a crisp 50F.
The Reuters news agency reported: “The Kremlin press pool was housed in an Alaska Airlines Center, where a semi-open-plan room was subdivided by partitions and some reporters were seen making their own camp-style beds. They were fed for free at a nearby university campus, Russian reporters said.”
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the cold war. It continues to play a role today, as planes from the base still intercept Russian aircraft that regularly fly into US airspace. Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in a sweatshirt with “CCCP” – the Russian letters for USSR – across the front.
Today’s meeting could prove a win-win for the two leaders. Putin, an alleged war criminal who had been an international pariah, gets to meet the US president on American soil. Trump, for his part, gets to play global statesman in a massive media spectacle where no one is talking about Jeffrey Epstein.
Russian government plane lands ahead of summit
The plane transporting Russian government officials has landed in Anchorage, Alaska, according to Flightradar24.
Trump’s pivotal meeting with Putin to begin shortly
Welcome to our coverage of the US president’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. This will be the first meeting with the Kremlin leader of Trump’s second term in office – and his seventh in total.
I’m Shrai Popat, and I’ll be bringing you the latest – alongside my colleagues – from today’s event.
The summit is set to kick off in just over an hour (3pm ET), at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. To get you up to speed, this is where things stand at the moment:
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Donald Trump has said, repeatedly, over the last few days that his chief aim of today’s meeting is to get a trilateral summit between Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and himself on the books. In his own words, Trump wants this to happen “almost immediately”. He’s also convinced that he’ll be able to tell from the first few minutes of his meeting today whether it will be a success, and would be prepared to walk away “real fast” if he thinks it’s not going well, according to an interview with Fox News.
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Crucially, the president has said he’s not in Alaska to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine, but instead with the goal of “getting Putin to the table”.
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However, Trump has been less clear on what would constitute a success from his sit-down with the Kremlin leader today. Earlier, on Air Force One, the president told reporters that he wants to see a ceasefire “rapidly”. He added: “I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.”
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The president also repeated his stern words from earlier in the week that Russia could expect “severe consequences” if it fails to show willingness to end the war in Ukraine. “Economically severe. It will be very severe. I’m not doing this for my health, OK, I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives,” the president said.
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For Zelenskyy’s part, he said that Ukraine is “counting on America”. He’s been shut out of talks today, but reiterated his call for “an honest end to the war”, and said he hoped to see “a strong American position” during today’s talks in Alaska.
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When it comes to territory negotiations, Trump has said he’s not interested in deciding on those today without Ukraine present, and Zelenskyy has said categorically that Ukraine could not agree to a ceasefire deal which cedes territory, as Moscow could use this as a springboard to start a future war.
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Trump confirmed to Zelenskyy that he’ll be calling him first after today’s meeting wraps, and he’s set to brief European leaders after that debrief.
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Ahead of the today’s summit, the president posted on Truth Social that he had a “wonderful” call with the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, saying “the purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners”, with 1,300 under discussion. The Belarussian leader is the country’s only president since it adopted its current constitution. Lukashenko has described himself as Europe’s “last and only dictator”, and is a notable Russian ally.
