Today's Edition
Anchorage (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin with a handshake ahead of a high-stakes summit in Alaska on Friday that could determine whether a ceasefire can be reached in the Ukraine war.
Trump disembarked his plane, Air Force One, and awaited Putin on the tarmac. The two exchanged greetings while smiling.
US F-22 aircraft were placed on either side of the red carpet.
Earlier, as he boarded Air Force One, Trump said he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table," he said.
Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: "I want to see a ceasefire rapidly ... I'm not going to be happy if it's not today ... I want the killing to stop."
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Trump will be joined in his meeting with Putin by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
At the subsequent larger, bilateral meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chief of staff Susie Wiles will also join Trump, Leavitt said.
The Russian officials accompanying Putin in the talks with the US delegation will be foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN.
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Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war will bring peace to the region as well as bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the pre-summit mood as "combative" and said the two leaders would discuss not only Ukraine but the full spectrum of bilateral relations, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelensky would be even more important than his encounter with Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a three-way summit would be possible if the Alaska talks bore fruit, Interfax news agency reported. Peskov also said Friday's talks could last six to seven hours.
Zelensky said the summit should open the way for a "just peace" and three-way talks that included him, but added that Russia was continuing to wage war.
'SMART GUY'
Trump said there is mutual respect between him and Putin.
"He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time, but so have I ... We get along, there's a good respect level on both sides," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring businesspeople to Alaska.
"But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly.
Russia, whose war economy is showing strain, is vulnerable to further US sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude.
COMMON GROUND?
The source familiar with Kremlin thinking said it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some common ground.
Putin has said he is open to a full ceasefire but that issues of verification must first be sorted out.
