Donald Trump departs for Alaska to satisfy Vladimir Putin to debate struggle in Ukraine – Europe reside

US president Donald Trump is now chatting with reporters on board of Air Pressure One.

He says Trump is “a smart guy” and so they “get along,” with “a good respect level on both sides,” saying he thought “something is going to come up.”

“I seen he’s bringing lots of enterprise folks from Russia, and that’s good.

I like that as a result of they need to do enterprise, however they’re not doing enterprise till we get the struggle stopped.”

On persevering with Russian assaults on Ukraine, Trump says he thinks Putin “is trying to set a stage” and “in his mind that helps him make a better deal.”

However the US president says “it actually hurts him, and I will be talking to him about it.”

… and he’s off!

Trump’s doubtlessly most consequential journey of his presidency (to this point?) is now below manner.

And in relation to the Russian delegation, becoming a member of Putin are, amongst others:

• International minister Sergei Lavrov

• International coverage adviser Yuri Ushakov

• Defence minister Andrei Belousov

• Russian Direct Funding Fund chief Kirill Dmitriev

• Finance minister Anton Siluanov

You may learn their profiles on this useful defined by Pjotr Sauer.

As he notes,

The Russian delegation, a mixture of outdated guard loyalists and youthful monetary power-brokers, hints at Putin’s need to woo Trump and dangle monetary incentives for siding with Moscow on Ukraine.

Trump will even be accompanied by a cadre of his most trusted advisers, amongst them a property mogul, a former hedge fund billionaire and the nation’s high diplomat.

During the last hour we got the complete record of the US delegation for the talks, which other than Trump consists of:

• State secretary Marco Rubio

• Treasury secretary Scott Bessent

• Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick

• CIA director John Ratcliffe

• White Home chief of employees Susie Wiles

They will even be joined by a bunch of different senior officers, together with deputy chiefs of employees and press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in addition to particular envoy Steve Witkoff and protocol chief Monica Crowley.

Oh.

Trump has simply boarded the Air Pressure One, however has nothing to say to reporters gathered each on the White Home and the Joint Base Andrews.

A seven-hour flight to Alaska forward earlier than the US president meets the Russian president for the primary time in 4 years.

USSR sweatshirt and rooster kyiv: Russia dials up trolling earlier than Alaska summit

Pjotr Sauer

Russian affairs reporter

In a not-so-subtle act of trolling, Russia’s international minister, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in Alaska on the eve of the US–Russia summit carrying a sweatshirt emblazoned with “USSR”.

As soon as seen in western capitals as a realistic and expert diplomat, the 75-year-old has lately mirrored the Kremlin’s radicalised politics, adopting an more and more combative tone and resorting to trolling and mockery.

Lavrov’s alternative of apparel nods to the Kremlin’s long-running narrative: Putin has repeatedly claimed that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people”, denying Ukraine’s legitimacy and territorial integrity whereas selling a broader notion of unity with Russia.

Most of Russia’s veteran delegation to Alaska, together with Lavrov, started their careers within the Soviet Union and have been accused by the Russian opposition of clinging to a Soviet imperialist mentality.

Below Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory, pro-Moscow authorities have dismantled monuments commemorating Ukrainian struggling below Soviet rule, together with memorials to victims of Holodomor, the mass famine in Soviet Ukraine within the Nineteen Thirties that killed hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.

The previous Lithuanian international minister Gabrielius Landsbergis quipped on X about Lavrov’s clothes alternative: “‘Just give us half of Ukraine and we promise we will stop,’ says negotiator wearing USSR sweatshirt.”

Russian style bloggers on Telegram had been fast to establish the $120 sweatshirt because the work of Selsovet, a Chelyabinsk-based model that specialises in “Soviet heritage” clothes.

Lavrov’s antics had been the newest in a string of Russian provocations main as much as the summit, geared toward unsettling Ukraine and its European allies. Earlier, the editor-in-chief of RT, Margarita Simonyan, wrote that the Russian press corps flying to Alaska had been served rooster kyiv cutlets.

The menu alternative was shortly seized upon by different Russian propagandists.

“Putin and Trump should turn Zelenskyy into a chicken kyiv. There’s no shortage of humour in the Kremlin,” wrote the pro-Kremlin commentator Sergei Markov.

In the previous few minutes, US president Donald Trump appeared to recognise the significance of the event forward, posting on his Fact Social account:

HIGH STAKES!!!

We might hear from him once more within the subsequent, say, half hour as he’s about to go away the White Home for Joint Base Andrews, from the place he’ll depart for Alaska – and everyone knows that he loves to speak with reporters!

What’s at stake on the Trump-Putin Ukraine peace summit?

Dan Sabbagh

Defence and safety editor

Few consider that Friday’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska will pave the best way for a breakthrough. Russia and Ukraine stay far aside – with the Kremlin searching for to dominate its smaller neighbour whereas Kyiv desires to maneuver decisively into the western sphere.

Listed here are among the key points that may have to be addressed to achieve a significant peace settlement.

1. Territory

Russia occupies round a fifth of Ukraine after greater than three years of combating however continues to demand land. Earlier this week the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stated Russia wished the remainder of Donetsk oblast, 9,000 sq. kilometres of territory, in return for a ceasefire. Zelenskyy stated Ukraine couldn’t agree, notably for therefore little in return. Ukraine’s public would even be unlikely to simply accept handing over extra land to the invader.

2. Safety ensures

Russia says it desires Ukraine to be impartial, although in apply this implies a weak neighbour with no ties to the west. In earlier negotiations, nonetheless referenced by the Kremlin, it has demanded that Kyiv’s navy be diminished to a token 50,000. It additionally nonetheless requires the nation to be “denazified”, interpreted as a name for the substitute of Zelenskyy.

Ukraine wish to be part of Nato, although this has been rejected by the US, leaving it looking for bilateral or multilateral safety ensures from its western allies. Britain and France have promised to steer a predominantly European “reassurance force” that may enter Ukraine within the occasion of a secure ceasefire, although Russia is against this.

3. Sanctions and commerce

Russia desires financial sanctions which were imposed on Moscow to be lifted. Trump, nonetheless, can solely converse for the US, with the UK and the EU more likely to be extra hostile, except Ukraine has signed as much as an general peace settlement.

4. Battle crimes, reparations and reconstruction

Battle crimes and claims for reparations can’t be put aside as a part of a peace settlement. The worldwide prison court docket (ICC) has an arrest warrant out in opposition to Putin over the compelled switch of about 20,000 youngsters from Ukraine to Russia. Zelenskyy has requested that the kids are returned within the first stage of any peace discussions, however the ICC demand is not going to disappear.

5. Different points

There are various different sensible issues. Ukraine is looking for the discharge of all prisoners of struggle alongside an preliminary ceasefire. Russia holds greater than 8,000 Ukrainian PoWs and Ukraine a smaller quantity, making one-for-one swaps tough. However there have been dozens of exchanges for the reason that begin of the struggle, and this can be one of many easier points to agree upon.

Learn in full:

Morning opening: Welcome to Anchorage, AK

Jakub Krupa

The eyes of the world are on Anchorage, Alaska, the place the US president, Donald Trump, will meet with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for what the US hopes shall be a pivotal second of their efforts to finish the struggle in Ukraine (the Russian hopes could also be considerably completely different).

The summit is about to begin 11am AKDT, which for us in Europe is 8pm BST, 9pm CEST, beginning a flurry of diplomacy between the 2 delegations in quite a lot of codecs: one-on-one and in bigger teams.

It’s anticipated to conclude some seven hours later, in keeping with the schedule, with plans for a joint press convention with each leaders. At the least that’s the plan for now.

Native residents are torn between pleasure over high-profile go to and trepidation over what US-Russian leaders would possibly agree, with some even joking: “Please don’t sell us back.” (The US purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867).

And that sense of solidarity with Ukraine was palpable on the streets of Anchorage, with demonstrations in assist for the war-torn nation with numerous banners additional exploring that theme.

However the talks should not going to be simple in any respect, with either side coming with nearly fully reverse goals and ambitions.

Russia, emboldened by the obvious progress made on the battlefield, will need to try to persuade the US that it’s only a matter of time earlier than it meets its navy targets, and any earlier settlement would due to this fact want to satisfy their maximalist calls for.

That’s very a lot not the view of Ukraine and it’s European companions, demanding respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty, the postwar precept that borders should not be modified by pressure, and arguing that not giving in to Russian calls for is essential for Europe’s broader safety panorama.

In terms of the host, US president Donald Trump, he implied there was a 75% probability of the Alaska assembly succeeding, and that the specter of financial sanctions might have made Putin extra prepared to hunt an finish to the struggle.

However what occurs when the doorways shut and the 2 leaders sit down for talks – nobody is aware of.

We are going to carry you all the newest right here with pre-summit evaluation and commentary, and later reside updates from the summit and first reactions from the US, Ukraine, and Europe.

It may transform one of many days we find out about in historical past books or… simply one other day of political theatre, with little sensible penalties. Let’s see.

It’s Friday, 15 August 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa right here, and that is Europe Dwell.