Trump Confirms August 15 Alaska Summit with Putin, Hints at Territorial Swaps in Russia–Ukraine Peace Talks

US President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed that a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place on August 15 in Alaska, marking his first official meeting with Putin since the start of his second term in January 2025. The announcement comes amid speculation over a potential peace arrangement between Russia and Ukraine that could involve territorial exchanges.

“But we’re gonna get some (territory) back. We’re gonna get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both,” Trump told reporters, without specifying which regions might be affected. In a post on Truth Social, he described the meeting as “highly anticipated” and promised further details in due course.

Efforts to arrange a trilateral summit involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appear to have stalled. US envoy Steve Witkoff had proposed a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy, but the Kremlin declined to engage on the idea. Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov stated that Moscow’s focus remains solely on preparations for the upcoming bilateral talks with Trump.

Putin has made it clear he is not planning to meet Zelenskyy, while Kremlin officials emphasise that work is underway for next week’s high-level engagement in Alaska. The meeting will be the first formal US–Russia presidential encounter since June 2021, when then-President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva.

Trump’s remarks align with recent comments by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who suggested that a pause in the ongoing war may be drawing closer. Citing discussions with Zelenskyy, who has also been in contact with Trump and other European leaders, Tusk noted: “There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict – I don’t want to say the end, but a freeze – is closer than it is further away. There are hopes for this.”