Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about strengthening ties amid the Trump tariff row, US President Donald Trump announced he will meet his Russian counterpart in Alaska on Friday, 15 August 2025, for high-stakes talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Announcing the meeting on Truth Social, Trump called it “highly anticipated” and promised more details in the coming days.
Putin’s trip marks his first visit to the United States in a decade, having last travelled for a meeting with then-President Barack Obama in 2015. The announcement followed a visit to Moscow by US envoy Steve Witkoff, who had proposed including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a trilateral session, a suggestion the Kremlin has ignored.
Ukraine peace deal on the table
The conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions. Trump has suggested that any peace agreement could involve territorial swaps between Ukraine and Russia, calling it “nothing easy” but potentially to the “betterment of both”. Russia now occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed that the two presidents would “focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis”. Putin claims control over four Ukrainian regions, including Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, as well as Crimea, although Russian forces do not fully occupy all of them.
Western and Ukrainian officials say Moscow’s latest proposals are largely unchanged from its 2022 demands, including a freeze along current front lines, Ukrainian concessions in Donetsk and Luhansk, limits on Ukraine’s military, and a guarantee that NATO membership will be off the table. Kyiv has rejected such terms as legitimising occupation.
Will Trump and Putin discuss US tariff on India?
While neither Washington nor Moscow has confirmed whether tariffs will feature in talks, Putin has held recent consultations with leaders of China and India ahead of the Alaska summit. PM Modi spoke with Putin on Friday, reaffirming the two countries’ “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership” and inviting him to visit India later this year.
The timing of the Trump–Putin announcement coincided with the US brokering a peace declaration between Armenia and Azerbaijan, further signalling the White House’s push for diplomatic breakthroughs.
US sanctions on Russia
Trump has intensified his efforts to secure a ceasefire, giving Putin a 10-day deadline, which expired on Friday, to agree or face new US sanctions. These could target Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers and its global energy exports.
Despite the missed deadline, Trump maintains that both Putin and Zelenskyy want a peaceful resolution.