Key points
- Trump says Ukraine war ceasefire deal is close
- Putin claims four Ukrainian regions for Russia
- Trump has not seen Putin in person since his return to White House
- Kremlin invites Trump to visit Russia
ISLAMABAD: United States (US) President Donald Trump said Friday he would meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska, as the Republican president hopes to help mediate an end to the war in Ukraine.
“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 wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump has not seen Putin in person since his return to the White House in January, according to AFP.
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, AP reported.
“Long-term peaceful resolution”
The two leaders will “focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
“This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically,” Ushakov said.
In his evening address to the nation on Friday, Zelensky said it was possible to achieve a ceasefire as long as adequate pressure was applied to Russia. According to Reuters, he said he had held more than a dozen conversations with leaders of different countries, and his team was in constant contact with the United States.
Territorial claims
Putin claims four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014. His forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions.
Earlier, Bloomberg News reported that U.S. and Russian officials were working towards an agreement that would lock in Moscow’s occupation of territory seized during its military invasion.
A White House official said the Bloomberg story was speculation. A Kremlin spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump invited to Russia
The Kremlin said on Saturday it had invited US President Donald Trump to visit Russia following next Friday’s summit with leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
“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,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
