WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he will meet “very shortly” with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a potential major milestone after expressing weeks of frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting.
On social media, Trump wrote: “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.”
There was no immediate confirmation from Moscow.
Trump told Gray Media White House Correspondent Jon Decker “I think my instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it,” when asked about a peace deal.
He went on to say: “A lot of people say, why are you bothering? We’re not losing people. We were spending hundreds of billions of dollars. Now we’re spending nothing. We’re spending no money. I guess we’re making money.
Because you know our great — we have the best military equipment in the world. We’re selling it to NATO, but you’re losing thousands of people a week,“ Trump continued. ”Russians and Ukrainians, mostly, mostly soldiers, but, you know, missiles are lobbed into cities and towns. Kiev, lots of places. You’ve been reading the same stories that I’ve been reading and we gotta get it solved.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House after announcing a framework aimed at ending decades of conflict elsewhere in the world — between Armenia and Azerbaijan — also suggested that his meeting with the Russian leader could come before any sit-down discussion involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We’re going to have a meeting with Russia, start off with Russia. And we’ll announce a location. I think the location will be a very popular one,” Trump said.
He added: “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. But we’ll be announcing that very shortly.”
If it happens, the meeting would be the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021, when former President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. It could mean a breakthrough in Trump’s effort to end the war, although there’s no guarantee it would stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace.
As the news broke of the Alaska meeting, comments started rolling from Alaska’s governor and delegation:
“I welcome the upcoming meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Russia’s President Putin being held here in the great state of Alaska,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy wrote in a social media post. “Alaska is the most strategic location in the world, sitting at the crossroads of North America and Asia, with the Arctic to our north and the Pacific to our south.
“The world will be watching, and Alaska stands ready to host this historic meeting.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan said he found out about the trip to Alaska at the same time as the rest of the country.
“I think it’s great that we’re hosting it, makes sense we’re the most strategic place in the world, we obviously do have shared American, Russian history in Alaska, and we are a place that when we look at our own history, we’ve had world leaders come here before in big moments in history,” Sullivan said.
He stopped short of saying if a peace deal could be reached.
“We’ll see,” Sullivan said. “Like I said, you know right now, their track record is strong, but I think with so many things that are related to Russia, it’s not words that matter to Putin — it’s strength and power.”
A spokesperson for Rep. Nick Begich said in a request for comment that a “pursuit of peace requires open dialogue.”
”It’s encouraging that the dialogue will be occurring at the highest levels here in Alaska, where Russia and America share a historic relationship and geographic proximity,” Begich’s spokesperson said. “My prayer is that the conversations are productive and result in meaningful progress toward reconciliation.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski responded in a social media post that she sees the meeting as an “opportunity for the Arctic to serve as a venue that brings together world leaders to forge meaningful agreements.”
“While I remain deeply wary of Putin and his regime, I hope these discussions lead to genuine progress and help end the war on equitable terms,” Murkowski said.
President Trump has visited Alaska before with stops at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to refuel as well as to speak at a rally in Anchorage in 2022 to support Republican U.S. House candidate Sarah Palin and U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka.
“I’ve heard for years there’s no place more beautiful and I agree,” Trump said at the time.
Trump told Gray Media White House Correspondent Jon Decker on Friday that his gut instinct tells him that there is a good shot of getting a peace deal reached between Russia and Ukraine.
Prior to his announcing the meeting with Putin, Trump’s efforts to pressure Russia into stopping the fighting have so far delivered no progress.
Trump did not say whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be attending.
This is a developing story and has been updated with new info. Check back for further updates.
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