U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shook hands and got into the same vehicle after arriving in Anchorage, Alaska, for a high-stakes discussion on the future of the war in Ukraine.
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Before Friday's meeting began, the White House announced that the previously planned one-on-one session between President Trump and Putin would instead be a three-on-three meeting. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are joining President Trump, while Putin is accompanied by two of his closest advisers.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the summit, President Trump said his goal was to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table.
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"I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine. I'm here to get them at a table. And I think you have two sides. Look, Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. If I wasn't president, he would, right now, be taking all of Ukraine, but he's not going to do it," President Trump said.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has said Ukraine must be at the table to negotiate its future. Trump has proposed a potential second meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy and said he would contact the Ukrainian president and European leaders immediately after Friday’s summit.
President Trump has repeatedly claimed the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine would not have happened if he had been president at the time, but he has pledged to help end the war.
It remains unclear whether Putin wants to end the war, but this visit is considered critical in potentially beginning that effort. This is Putin's first visit to the U.S. since 2015, when he attended the United Nations General Assembly.
