- On board the Air Force One, Mr Trump told reporters he is not going to Alaska to broker a deal on behalf of Ukraine, but said instead his goal was getting Mr Putin to the table. “I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine,” he added. “… I think it’s going to work out very well – and if it doesn’t, I’m going to head back home real fast,” Mr Trump told reporters in the presidential plane.
- “Putin believes that his continuous attacks give him strength in negotiations, but I think that hurts him. I think we will achieve some result at the summit with Putin. I am working to end the war to save lives. Russia will face severe economic consequences if it does not reach an agreement,” Mr Trump said, adding they will discuss the issue of land exchange, but it is up to Ukraine to make the decision.
- While Mr Trump was flying to Alaska, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the US president should convince Russia to stop its “invasion”. “It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,” Mr Zelensky said in a social media post.
- The US delegation includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe, among others.
- The talks could last at least six-seven hours, a Kremlin spokesman said. The Russians hope the meeting ends productively, the spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The individual talks between Mr Putin and Mr Trump will be held with the participation of advisers, he added.
- The Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska’s remote Anchorage town could prove decisive for the future of Ukraine, where a war has been going on since February 2022. This would be the first visit of Mr Putin to the West since the war began.
- While Mr Trump extended the invitation at the Russian leader’s suggestion, the US president has since been defensive and warned that the meeting could be over within minutes if Mr Putin does not compromise. Every word and gesture will be closely watched by European leaders and Mr Zelensky, who was not included and has publicly refused pressure from Mr Trump to surrender territory.
- Mr Trump, usually fond of boasting of his deal-making skills, has called the summit a “feel-out meeting” to test Mr Putin, whom he last saw in 2019. “I am president, and he’s not going to mess around with me,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. Mr Trump promised to consult with European leaders and Mr Zelensky, saying that any final agreement would come in a three-way meeting with him and the Ukrainian president to “divvy up” territory.
- The talks are set to begin at 1900 GMT on Friday at Elmendorf Air Force Base, the largest US military installation in Alaska and a Cold War base for surveillance of the Soviet Union. Adding to the historical significance, the US bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia – a deal Moscow has cited to show the legitimacy of land swaps. But on the ground in Alaska there was a mix of the bizarre, the peculiar and even moose and a bear. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in a sweatshirt with the old Soviet Union initials “USSR” (“CCCP”) across the front.
- For India, which faces US tariffs over buying Russian oil, cannot allow itself to be used by the US in the West’s misguided trade war with China, a top American economist told NDTV ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting. “… I have been saying to my dear Indian friends for years, which is that the United States uses other countries. It does not act responsibly towards other countries, so be careful. India should not allow itself to be used by the US, for example, as somehow in the US’ misguided trade war with China,” professor Jeffrey D Sachs, who teaches at Columbia University, told NDTV.
