Live updates from Trump-Putin Alaska summit

The Alaska meeting was a test of whether Trump can make progress on a peace deal in the grinding three-year war in Ukraine.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the tarmac of a U.S. air base in Alaska and began a closed-door meeting over the Ukraine war.Trump said on Air Force One that he might consider U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, outside of the NATO alliance.The Kremlin estimated the Trump-Putin meeting could last as long as 6 or 7 hours, state media reported.The Russian president teased the possibility of a nuclear arms control deal.

WASHINGTON − With handshakes and a red carpet, President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met for an hours-long summit that Trump hoped would lead to a resolution of the three-year Ukraine war.

Putin said after the meeting that they had reached a deal, but Trump said the two sides were not there yet. “There is no deal until there is a deal,” he said at a press conference with Putin. “We’re going to try and get this over with.”

Trump said he had always had a good relationship with “Vladimir,” despite some tough meetings in over the years. But there was more work to be done on reaching an agreement on the war.

Follow along for live updates.

Native Ukrainian left speechless after ‘no deal’ summit

Ukrainian-American Volodymyr Valchuk said he already had low expectations for the high-stakes summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

But after listening to the world leaders meet in person for the first time in six years to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, Valchuk admitted this was a head-shaker.  

“I’m speechless. I have nothing to say. I really didn’t expect much, but this is even worse than I thought,” said Valchuk, 46. “That’s what I’m feeling right now.”

Valchuk, a respiratory therapist who lives in San Rafael, California, said he’s “very disappointed” when Trump said “no deal” was reached to end the war.

“At least they could’ve given us a little idea what Putin said the agreement was,” Valchuk said. “Trump said he will talk to NATO and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy, but I really don’t know what that means?

“Yeah, I’m disappointed,” said Valchuk, who came from Ukraine to the US to attend college in 1996. “Very disappointed.”

Valchuk, who gained his American citizenship in 2004, said he doesn’t know what happens next for his homeland.

“I just hope it’s not going to cost Ukraine some of its land and more lives,” Valchuk said. “I hope.” 

–Terry Collins

Putin warns Europe leaders not to ‘throw a wrench’ in peace talks

Putin warned European leaders not to “throw a wrench” in the peace negotiations through “provocations.”

His warning came before Trump said he would call European leaders including Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to notify them about the talks.

“I would like to hope that the agreement that we’ve reached together would help us bring closer that goal and pave the path to peace in Ukraine,” Putin said. “We expect that the European capitals will perceive that constructively and that they won’t throw a wrench in the works and will not make any attempts to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress.”

–Bart Jansen

‘We didn’t get there’: Trump says biggest issue unresolved

President Donald Trump said “many points were agreed to” in his meeting with Vladimir Putin but offered no specifics and added on the biggest issue “we didn’t get there.”

“We had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to,” Trump said in a short statement to the media without taking questions. “One is probably the most significant… We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

-Zac Anderson

Trump hoped for a ceasefire. Will he get one?

Trump said in a Fox News interview on Air Force One that he’d “like to see a ceasefire” and “wouldn’t be thrilled” if he did not get one at his meeting with Putin.

“I’m not going to be happy with that,” Trump told ‘Special Report’ host Bret Baier.

But he again said the meeting with Putin would be “setting the table” for a potential second meeting, where a deal to end the war would be discussed.

“It’s not for me to negotiate a deal for Ukraine, but I can certainly set the table to negotiate the deal, and our next meeting will have President Zelensky and President Putin and probably me,” Trump said.

–Francesca Chambers

‘All of Ukraine is ours’: Putin’s position heading into summit

Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine belongs to Russia – full stop. He said so himself in June, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“I have said many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,” Putin told forum attendees, according to the Atlantic Council. “We have an old rule. Wherever a Russian soldier sets foot is ours.”

He has said it before.

In 2021, in a nearly 7,000-word essay posted in English to the Kremlin website, Putin said: Russia and Ukraine are “essentially the same historical and spiritual space.”

Seven months later, in February 2022, Putin led a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

-Lauren Villagran

More: Putin says ‘the whole of Ukraine is ours’

Murkowski: ‘Believable’ ceasefire best case scenario from summit

As Trump and Putin continued to meet at a military base in her home state Aug. 15, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski told CNN that the best case scenario from the summit is a ceasefire with teeth.

“I think the best that we could hope for is that there is a commitment coming out of Putin to a ceasefire with enough contours to it that it is believable that it will be more than just a brief moment to check a box here,” Murkowski said.

Trump and Putin both have “a lot on the line” and the question is whether they can reach a deal that both of them can tout as a win, she said.

“Because I don’t see them coming together in a chummy way and saying: ‘We got a win for the world here.’ I don’t see that at all, I’m not so rosy eyed to think that,” Murkowski said. “So how do both of them claim a little bit of advantage here? That’s the great unknown.”

-Zac Anderson

Anchorage crowd supports Ukraine as Trump meets Putin

Demonstrators in Anchorage held up a large Ukrainian flag, encircling it and gripping the blue and yellow edges as Trump met with Putin at a nearby military base.

A video feed showed a large crowd, many holding signs and smaller Ukrainian flags, with the city and cloud-covered mountains in the background.

One blue and yellow sign read “We stand with Ukraine.” The crowd broke into a chant of “peace for Ukraine.”

-Zac Anderson

Reporters shouted, “Mr. Putin, did you underestimate Ukraine?” and “President Putin, will you stop killing civilians?” while Putin stood next to Trump after exiting his plane. After the second question, Putin made a face, pointed to his head, shrugged and lifted his palms to the air.

Trump and Putin then rode together in the 20,000-pound U.S. presidential limousine, known as The Beast, to the formal summit. Putin smiled and waved from behind the 3-inch-thick glass.

Before Air Force One landed for the high-stakes meeting, Trump told reporters he would “walk” if things didn’t go well with the Russian strongman.

“We’re going for a meeting with President Putin in Alaska, and I think it’s going to work out very well − and if it doesn’t, I’m going to head back home real fast,” Trump told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an interview during the flight.

More: It was sold in 1867, but some Russians want Alaska back from the US

Putin has been reluctant to halt the bloody Ukraine conflict, frustrating Trump, who has lashed out and threatened economic penalties. The Aug. 15 summit is a test of whether Trump can make progress on a deal that is acceptable to both Ukraine and Russia.

The two leaders are meeting at a U.S. military base in Alaska. Not invited: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke with Trump twice this week and has rejected the idea of territorial concessions to end the war.

The leaders held a brief photo opportunity as the meeting began. On each side of the room was an interpreter and two senior aides for each man.

Trump and Putin sat next to one another, tilted forward with their hands between their legs, in front of a dark blue banner that said “Pursuing Peace” and “Alaska 2025.”

Trump did not respond to shouted questions from reporters, other than to say, “Thank you very much. Thank you.” Putin appeared to bristle at one question. He cupped his hands around his mouth as he officered an inaudible response.

-Francesca Chambers

The United States has had internal discussions about using Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker vessels to support the development of gas and LNG projects in Alaska as one of the possible deals to aim for when President Trump meets Vladimir Putin, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The icebreaker idea has been discussed among White House officials as one of the potential deals to try to strike with Russia at the Alaska summit, one of the sources said.

More: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ supercharges Coast Guard’s Arctic icebreaker fleet

The ongoing talks between the United States and Russia over Ukraine have included discussions about business deals. The White House is planning to continue this approach at the Aug. 15 summit, said the source, who, like the others spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kremlin officials were not available for comment. 

– Reuters

As Trump arrived in Alaska, Zelenskyy issued a statement saying that he and the people of Ukraine “count on a strong position from America.”

“On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well. And that speaks volumes,” the Ukrainian leader said in a videotaped statement posted on X.

“Everyone needs a just end to the war. Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to bring the war to an end, and we count on a strong position from America. Everything will depend on this – the Russians factor in American strength. Make no mistake – strength.”

Russia is preparing to test a new nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missile, and, if successful, plans to use the results to bolster its negotiating position with the West, Ukrainian military intelligence said on August 15.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the service, issued the written statement to Reuters just before President Donald Trump was due to hold talks in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Reuters on Tuesday reported two U.S. researchers and a Western security source as saying that Moscow was readying a test of the Burevestnik at its Pankovo test site on the Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya.

– Reuters

Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Illinois, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump’s willingness to attend the summit with Putin allowed him to “blow past the sixth deadline” Trump has given the Russian leader to reach a ceasefire deal.

“Putin continues to ask for maximalist conditions and escalates the conflict,” Quigley told USA TODAY.

“The tyrants of the world see what the president’s doing, and frankly, they see a lack of interest, or weakness.”

Putin’s recent “flattering” is “what he’s smart enough to know works with Trump,” he added.

Of Putin’s efforts to negotiate a new nuclear deal, Quigley said, while Putin’s motives were suspect, “There’s always time for diplomacy.”

“I don’t trust Putin, but we need to try to do this on a multilateral basis for the future of peace in the world,” he said.

Trump, aboard Air Force One, landed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska at 2:20 p.m. ET, or 10:20 a.m. local time.

Trump will be joined in his meeting with Putin by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, White House press secretary Karoline Levitt told reporters.

A red carpet is sitting on the tarmac awaiting Trump and Putin to greet each other.

Putin was expected about half an hour later, according to C-SPAN.

Trump, on board Air Force One en route to Alaska, said he will end his high-stakes meeting with Putin quickly if it doesn’t go well.

“We’re going for a meeting with President Putin in Alaska, and I think it’s going to work out very well − and if it doesn’t, I’m going to head back home real fast,” Trump told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an interview during the flight.

“I would walk,” the president added in an excerpt of the interview released by the television network.

More: From bromance to bitterness, Trump-Putin relationship full of twists and turns

After landing in Alaska, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, told reporters that he expected to continue a “productive conversation” with Trump but declined to say whether the summit would be successful.

“We never try to anticipate the outcome or make any guesses,” Lavrov said Aug. 15, after being told Trump had predicted a 25% chance the talks would be unsuccessful. “What we do know, however, is that we have arguments we can contribute to the discussion and that our position is clear. We will present it.”

Lavrov showed up at the talks wearing a CCCP sweatshirt, from when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated he’s interested in securing a new nuclear arms control pact with the United States, raising the stakes of the summit with President Donald Trump.

Putin suggested the summit could create “the long-term conditions of peace between our countries … and in the world as a whole, if we reach agreements in the field of strategic (nuclear) offensive arms control,” while speaking to senior Kremlin military and civilian officials at an Aug. 14 meeting.

More: Putin teases new nuke deal ahead of Alaska meeting with Trump

The world’s last remaining nuclear arms control treaty, New START, limits the U.S. and Russia to keeping only 1,550 long-range nuclear warheads on alert at any given time. It expires in February 2026, though Russia in 2022 paused and later stopped consultation meetings and stopped U.S. and NATO inspections of its nuclear arsenal.

Trump, long a proponent of reducing the risks of nuclear weapons, tried and failed to initiate three-way arms control negotiations with Putin and Chinese President Xi Xinping during his first term.

– Davis Winkie

The Kremlin predicts that Trump’s tete-a-tete with Putin could last as long as six or seven hours, state broadcaster RIA reported.

Trump, meanwhile, has said the entire summit could be a short-lived bust.

“At the end of that meeting, probably the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” he said Aug. 11.

President Donald Trump said before his Russia summit that he called Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to thank him for releasing 16 prisoners and to discuss the release of 1,300 more prisoners.

“Our conversation was a very good one,” Trump said on social media. “We discussed many topics, including President Putin’s visit to Alaska.”Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, is accused of holding hundreds of political prisoners in Belarus, which his government denies.Trump added that he hoped to meet with Lukashenko “in the future.”

Asked if there was a possibility of the U.S. providing security guarantees to Ukraine, Trump first sought to banish the idea of a NATO membership for the country.

“Not in the form of NATO,” he said. “There are certain things that aren’t going to happen.”

Aside from that, security guarantees could be on the table, he said.

“Along with Europe, there’s a possibility,” he said.

GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan called the summit in his home state of Alaska “really preliminary” but a chance for Trump to get a sense of whether Putin is ready for a ceasefire with Ukraine before tackling more complex issues, such as territorial issues and security guarantees.

“Negotiating peace is very complex, very difficult,” Sullivan told CBS’s “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” in an interview Aug. 14 that will air Aug. 17. “Even this kind of high-level diplomacy has risks for everybody, including the president and his team.”

“I would call it, you know, an exercise in place-setting for the real negotiations,” Sullivan added.

– Bart Jansen

Asked for his view on Russian attacks on Ukraine on the eve of their summit which killed at least seven civilians, Trump said it might be them setting the stage for negotiations.

“In his mind that helps to make a better deal. It actually hurts him,” Trump told reporters while flying to Alaksa. “In his mind, that helps him make a better deal if they could continue the killing.”

Trump went on to analyze Putin and the “part of the world” he belonged to.

“Maybe it’s just his fabric, his genes, his genetics,” he said. “But he thinks that makes him, gives him strength in negotiating. I think it hurts him, but I’ll be talking to him about it.”

– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Asked about what would be different in a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Putin, President Trump reflected on his impressions of the Russian leader and their relationship during an interview with reporters on Air Force One on his way to Alaska.

“Look, he’s a smart guy,” said Trump. “We get along. It’s a good respect level on both sides. And I think, you know, something’s going to come of it.”

Trump said he’d noticed that Putin was bringing “a lot of business people from Russia.”

“That’s good. I like that,” he said. “Because they want to do business, but they’re not doing business until we get the war out.”

– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

President Donald Trump departed the White House around 7:30 a.m. on Aug 15 en route to his highly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He had one message for those watching: “HIGH STAKES,” he wrote in a Truth Social post earlier in the morning.

Traveling along with him is a 16-member entourage consisting of cabinet secretaries, communications staff and aides. They include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scot Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, CIA Director John Ratcliff and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy  

On the eve of his trip to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump said the secondary tariffs against India for purchasing oil from Russia “probably” played a part in Putin wanting to meet with him.

On July 28, Trump gave an ultimatum to Russia: declare a ceasefire in Ukraine within 10–12 days or face sanctions.

Instead, on Aug. 8, the day the deadline was supposed to expire, Trump announced that he was meeting Putin on Aug. 15.

Meanwhile, Trump also announced that a 25% secondary tariff on India would go into effect later in the month for buying oil from Russia, in addition to the country-specific 25% tariff.

During an interview with Brian Kilmeade of Fox News on Aug. 14, Trump was asked if the 10-day deadline had played a role in Moscow trying to schedule the meeting.

“Everything has an impact,” said Trump, before adding that the secondary tariffs on India took the country “out of buying oil from Russia.”

“Certainly, when you lose your second largest customer and you’re probably going to lose your first largest customer, I think that probably has a role,” he said of Russia’s incentive to meet.

– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Way back in 1991, as the once-mighty Soviet Union disintegrated and Westerners cheered, Vladimir Putin’s favorite rock and roll band released “Don’t Fool Around, America,” a patriotic hit about an even older lost cause – Russia’s 1867 sale of Alaska to the United States.

This bouncy, accordion-driven single ignored the disorienting collapse of the Soviet dictatorship and instead pointed listeners east, 2.4 miles across the Bering Strait, to the 49th U.S. state, demanding:

“Give us our dear Alaska back/Give us our dear native land.”

Now the song, by rabble-rousing rockers Lyuba (the Loud Ones), has taken on new significance as President Donald Trump hosts Putin at an Alaskan military base – and conspiracy theories resurface claiming Uncle Sam swindled Mother Russia out of the 665,000-square-mile Arctic jewel. 

Read more on Russian seller’s remorse in USA TODAY.

– Dan Morrison

Alaska is currently four hours behind Eastern Standard Time. 

The meeting between Trump and Putin is scheduled to begin around 11 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time, according to the White House, which means it will begin around 3 p.m. ET.

– Gabe Hauari

Trump and Putin will meet in Anchorage, Alaska, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, home to about 30,000 service members, their families and civilian employees.

Alaska was once part of Russia – the U.S. bought it for $7.2 million in 1867 −  and is separated by the Bering Strait from the Russian mainland by just 55 miles at the narrowest point.

More: Trump-Putin summit spotlights Alaska’s strategic importance, vulnerability

Trump met with Putin multiple times during his first term, including in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018. Putin denied interfering in the 2016 election, comments that Trump embraced, saying Putin “was extremely strong and powerful in his denial” despite U.S. intelligence assessments pointing to interference by Moscow on Trump’s behalf.

– Zac Anderson

Trump has had a famously warm relationship with Putin over the years, often praising the Russian autocrat. Trump reportedly shared classified intelligence with Russian officials during his first term and tried to soften U.S. opposition to Russia’s past aggression against Ukraine and its human rights violations.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and Zelenskyy featured in one of the lowest points of Trump’s first term. He was impeached over allegations that he pressured Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on political rival Joe Biden.

Trump’s friendly approach to Putin has largely continued as he worked to get a peace deal and focused his ire on Zelenskyy, most notably during an explosive Oval Office meeting when the two clashed publicly. Trump told the Ukrainian leader he didn’t “have the cards” when it came to resolving the conflict in the country’s favor.

Lately, though, Trump has repeatedly slammed Putin and complained about his unwillingness to stop the fighting.

Putin escalated his attacks on Ukraine ahead of the summit, which former GOP House speaker and Trump ally Newt Gingrich called “a sign of very bad faith.” Trump said Aug. 13 that there would be “very severe consequences” if Putin does not agree to end the war.

– Zac Anderson

Trump is trying to push Moscow into an accord that Kyiv and its allies fear will include the loss of significant territory seized by Russia in its 3-year-old war.

Speculating about an eventual deal on Aug. 8, Trump said it would involve “some swapping of territories.”

That drew a sharp response from Zelenskyy, who said, “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.”

But Trump has continued to push, saying on Aug. 11 that he was a “little bothered” by the Ukrainian leader’s assertion that a land swap would violate the country’s constitution.

 “There will be some swapping,” Trump insisted Aug. 11. “There will be some changes in land.”

The debate over territorial concessions hangs over the summit. Putin claims four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014.

Contributing: Reuters