President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin landed on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska and started their long -awaited conversations in the end of the war in Ukraine.
The meeting is the first time that Leaders from the US and Russia have personally met since Putin launched his deadly invasion of Ukraine more than three and a half years ago.
The meeting, which started at around 3.30 pm EST, is expected to take a few hours, with the first estimates that vary approximately four hours, although the Kremlin indicates on Friday that the conversations could last a maximum of seven hours.
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while they meet each other to negotiate the war in Ukraine, on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, US, August 15, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
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Prior to the meeting, Trump said that he would not enter into a deal or would grant territorial concessions regarding Ukraine, although questions that had been raised at a high level in the run -up to the conversations about whether Washington would forge a minerals with Moscow.
The president told reporters on Thursday that he would wait to see how the conversations will play before he would say whether he could follow a mine agreement – the optics whose optic remains unclear, because they may benefit the Russian economy, and therefore Putin’s war box.
Although both the US and Russia in particular saw their top negotiators travel with their corresponding delegations as American secretary Scott Bessent and commerce secretary Scott Lutnick-Die both have been conducted with trade discussions at the highest level-goods reported for the trip for the trip.
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The White House confirmed that in addition to the president and his top economic officials, secretary Pete Hegseeth, staff chef Susie Wiles, special envoy Steve Witkoff and State Secretary Marco Rubio also made the approximately 8 -hour trip to Anchorage for “extensive bilateral” discussions and a “working lunch.”
Although only Witkoff and Rubio will be in the meeting next to Trump, while Putin is expected to be accompanied by the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.
The Russian Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov would also have made the flight of about eight and a half hours, but it is unclear whether he will be at the meeting with Putin and Trump.
The American Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth (C, L) and State Secretary Marco Rubio (C, R) walk on the asphalt on arrival at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty images)
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Trump said he will call Ukrainian President Volodyymyr Zenskyy and European leaders, immediately after his discussions with Putin.
It remains unclear whether Trump and Putin will address the press after the high -level meetings.
