Putin–Trump Summit: Key Objectives for Both Sides

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a high-stakes meeting at a US air base in Alaska on Friday, marking the first summit between sitting US and Russian leaders in over four years. The talks will focus on the Ukraine war, though Moscow and Kyiv remain deeply divided over how to end the conflict. For Putin, this will be his first trip to a Western country since launching the invasion in February 2022, and his first visit to the US in a decade.

From Russia’s perspective, the summit offers a platform to push its uncompromising demands, including Ukraine’s withdrawal from the four regions Moscow claimed to annex in 2022, an end to Kyiv’s NATO aspirations, halting of Western arms supplies, lifting of sanctions, and guarantees for the rights of Russian speakers. Ukraine, however, has flatly rejected these terms, calling them tantamount to surrender.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, not invited to the summit, has criticized the talks as a “personal victory” for Putin. Kyiv insists that no agreement is possible without its involvement, and demands an unconditional ceasefire, release of all prisoners of war, return of Ukrainian children allegedly taken by Russia, robust security guarantees, and a phased approach to lifting sanctions with mechanisms to reimpose them if necessary.

For the United States, the meeting is Trump’s first in-person attempt to broker a peace deal after months of phone calls and diplomatic visits failed to yield concessions from Moscow. While Trump has voiced optimism about achieving a quick ceasefire, the White House has tempered expectations, framing the session as a “listening exercise.”

Europe, meanwhile, remains on the sidelines despite being a key supporter of Ukraine and home to millions of its refugees. European leaders have warned that any peace deal without Kyiv’s participation would be unacceptable, with figures like Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer even floating the idea of post-war peacekeeping missions in Ukraine — a proposal Russia strongly opposes.