Trump expresses openness for one-on-one encounter with Putin, regardless of Zelensky's planned meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump to Meet with Vladimir Putin Amidst Ongoing Ukraine Conflict
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet for talks on the ongoing Ukraine war, with the scheduled summit taking place in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday, August 15, 2025. The meeting will primarily focus on discussing terms for a potential peace deal in Ukraine.
Despite calls from Europe for inclusion in any potential peace talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not be directly part of the meeting. However, Trump has stated he will call Zelensky and several European leaders after the meeting to brief them on the discussions.
The talks come after three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul have failed to yield any progress towards a ceasefire. Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe, and Kiev for a ceasefire, and Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.
As the two sides remain far apart on the conditions they have set to end the more than three-year-long conflict, Senator Jeanne Shaheen has urged Trump to "finally get tough on the Kremlin" and use his leverage to end the war. Trump has been pressuring Moscow to end Russia's military assault on Ukraine since returning to the White House in January.
The meeting between Trump and Putin would be the first between sitting U.S. and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021. The two leaders last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term.
Ukraine, an integral part of Europe, is already in negotiations on EU accession. Zelensky has called for Europe to be included in any potential peace talks, stating that it is only fair for Ukraine to be involved in the negotiations.
The meeting could occur as early as next week, with Putin naming the United Arab Emirates as a potential location for the summit, but this has not been confirmed by Washington. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has stated that "next week has been set as a target date" for the summit, but Washington later denied that a venue or date had been set.
As the world watches, the upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin offers a glimmer of hope for a resolution to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. However, the two sides have a long road ahead in finding common ground to bring an end to the violence and restore peace to the region.
[1] Source: New York Times [2] Source: Washington Post
- Beyond discussions with Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump might also engage Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders over the ongoing Ukraine war, given the importance of politics in war-and-conflicts and the general-news value of this issue.
- The impending talks between Trump and Putin on the Ukraine war could mark a breakthrough in finding common ground, which is crucial in politics, to eventually end the more than three-year-long conflict, contributing to peace in a broader general-news context.
