Trump remains vague on details of upcoming Ukraine peace talks in Alaska, anticipated Friday
- James Brooks
- Aug 12
- 2 min read
By James Brooks
Alaska Beacon
Four days before a scheduled meeting with the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, over the possibility of a ceasefire that could pause the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Donald Trump has yet to announce a firm location or timing.
Trump said last week on social media that he would meet Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Speaking to reporters Monday at the White House, Trump said he would seek to temporarily end the fighting that has resulted since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
He said he isn’t certain what a long-term peace deal would involve, but it likely would entail “some swapping … some changes in land,” he said.
“We’re going to change the lines, the battle lines. Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They’ve occupied some very prime territory. We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine. But they’ve taken some very prime territory,” Trump said.
In a video address Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to reject the idea of surrendering land for peace, saying in part that “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.”
Zelenskyy has not been invited to Trump’s talks with Putin.
In meandering remarks Monday, Trump twice appeared to misstate the location of the expected talks, saying at one point, “We’re going to Russia,” before correctly returning to Alaska as the location.
“I thought it was very respectful that the president of Russia is coming to our country instead of us going to his country or a third-party place. I think we’ll have constructive conversations, and then after that meeting, immediately — maybe as I’m flying out, maybe as I’m leaving the room — I’ll be calling the European leaders who I get along with very well and have a great relationship with, I think, all of them,” Trump said Monday.
“I get along with Zelenskyy, but I disagree with what he’s done, very very severely disagree. This is a war that shouldn’t have happened … but I’ll be speaking with Zelenskyy. The next meeting will be with Zelenskyy and Putin, or Zelenskyy, Putin and me. I’ll be there if they need, but I want to have a meeting set up between the two leaders,” Trump said.
Asked what he would consider a good deal between Russia and Ukraine, the president said he hasn’t made up his mind.
“I’ll tell you after I hear what the deal is, because there could be many definitions,” Trump said.
“We’re going to have a meeting with Vladimir Putin,” he said, “and at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be, because that’s what I do.”
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
