Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are set to meet in Alaska on Friday for high-stakes talks aimed at finding a resolution to the Ukraine conflict, the Kremlin confirmed on Thursday.
The summit will mark the first face-to-face meeting between sitting U.S. and Russian leaders since 2021 and comes as Trump seeks to position himself as a broker in ending Russia’s nearly three-and-a-half-year offensive in Ukraine.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the “central topic” of the meeting would be the resolution of the Ukraine crisis, but that the discussions would also touch on “broader issues of ensuring peace and security, as well as pressing international and regional issues.”
The talks will begin at 11:30 a.m. local time in Alaska (1930 GMT) with a private, one-on-one session attended only by Putin, Trump, and their interpreters. This will be followed by expanded negotiations between the two countries’ delegations over a working breakfast.
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Russia’s delegation will include Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev.
Following the talks, Putin and Trump will hold a joint press conference — the first between a U.S. and Russian leader since their 2018 meeting in Helsinki — to present the outcomes of the negotiations.
The meeting is being closely watched around the world, as both leaders face pressure to show progress toward ending one of the most significant conflicts of the decade.