President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that he will hold a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week, marking another bid to bring an end to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its 41st month.
“We’re going to have a meeting with Russia, start off with Russia, and we’ll announce a location,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“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,” the president continued. “It would have been sooner, but I guess there’s security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make. Otherwise I’d do it much quicker. He would, too. He’d like to meet as soon as possible. I agree with it.”
Trump later revealed the time and place 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,” he wrote.
“Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added.
Just a day earlier, Trump had indicated he might meet with Putin before bringing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into negotiations — a stance that differed from what White House officials had previously told The Post.
If it goes ahead, the Alaska talks will mark the first formal US-Russia bilateral meeting since President Joe Biden met with Putin in Geneva in June 2021. Trump and Putin’s most recent in-person meeting was in 2019 during the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Reports of the planned summit drew mixed reactions in Ukraine. Some Ukrainians told The Post they feared Trump might consider a proposal one US official described as the Kremlin’s “wishlist,” though the president’s remarks left others hopeful that such a deal would not be imposed on Kyiv.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the proposal would have had Ukraine relinquish Crimea as well as the entirety of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions — even though Russia has not fully occupied about one-third of those territories.
Such a deal would not only breach Ukrainian law, which forbids recognizing the loss of post-Soviet territory, but would also violate US law. Another American source explained that Washington is barred from recognizing Russian sovereignty over those areas, and that lifting related sanctions on pro-Moscow leaders would require congressional approval.
“Any recognition, especially sanctions relief, would be a very heavy lift,” that source told The Post.
On Friday, Trump was asked whether he was “surprised that Zelensky hasn’t figured out by now, in years of war, how to deal with you and to deal with Putin without needing permission to make concessions from his Parliament or from a national referendum.” Trump did not engage with the premise.
“In all fairness to President Zelensky, he’s getting everything he needs to, assuming we get something done,” Trump responded.
The president, 79, has previously set a Friday deadline for Putin to agree to a cease-fire or face additional US secondary sanctions tied to Russian energy sales.
Earlier this week, Trump also announced a new 25% tariff on India over its oil purchases, scheduled to take effect on August 27.
{Matzav.com}
Please be Mispallel to HaKodesh Boruch Hu that this meeting works out very good and peace finally comes to the region and Moshiach Tzidkaynu and the Geula Sheleima come, Bimhayra B’Yamaynui!!