US President Donald Trump disclosed on Friday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in Alaska and intimated that any ultimate solution to end the war in Ukraine may include swapping territories.
The Kremlin later confirmed the summit, describing the location as “quite logical”.
“The presidents themselves will undoubtedly focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov said in a Telegram statement.
Tens of thousands of people have been slain since Russia launched its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, forcing millions to abandon their homes.
Putin met with Chinese and Indian leaders on Friday ahead of his summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office attempting to broker peace in Ukraine without success.
“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,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.
Earlier, he said at the White House that “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.
Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to yield results, and it is uncertain whether a summit will bring peace any closer.
Russian bombings have caused millions of people to abandon their homes and damaged large portions of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Putin has repeatedly rejected pleas for a ceasefire from the US, Europe, and Kyiv.
He has also ruled out meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at this time, despite the Ukrainian president’s claim that such a meeting is required to move the negotiations forward.
At negotiations in Istanbul last month, Russian diplomats set harsh territorial criteria for halting its advance, including Kyiv’s withdrawal from certain territory and renunciation of Western military support.
The Alaska summit would be the first meeting between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.
Trump and Putin last met in 2019 at a G20 conference in Japan, during Trump’s first term. They have spoken on the phone multiple times since January.
The Kremlin’s Ushakov stated that Trump has been invited to visit Russia.
“Looking ahead, it is natural to hope that the next meeting between the presidents will be held on Russian territory. A corresponding invitation has already been sent to the US president,” Ushakov said.
