US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet on Friday in Alaska in a high-risk summit that could prove decisive for the future of Ukraine.
Ahead of the summit, Trump said that security guarantees for Ukraine were possible “along with Europe and other countries”, but not in the form of NATO.
He also said he will let Ukraine decide on possible territorial swaps with Russia, adding: "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine."
Trump said there would not be any trade with Russia without the end of the war.
Putin will step onto Western soil for the first time since the start of the war with Ukraine in February 2022, a relentless conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and has seen Russia make rapid gains just before the summit.
Trump extended the invitation at the Russian leader's suggestion, but the US president has since been defensive and warned that the meeting could be over within minutes if Putin does not compromise.
"HIGH STAKES," he posted on his Truth Social platform shortly before boarding Air Force One and taking off for the near seven-hour flight to Anchorage.
Every word and gesture will be closely watched by European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was not included and has publicly refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia.
'We never make any predictions ahead of time'
Trump has called the summit a "feel-out meeting" to test Putin, whom he last saw in 2019. "If it's a bad meeting, it'll end very quickly, and if it's a good meeting, we're going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future," Trump said on Thursday.
He gave the summit a one-in-four chance of failure -- though he seemed optimistic when talking to reporters en route to Anchorage on Friday.
"There's a good respect level on both sides and I think something's going to come out of it," he said aboard Air Force One. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to a question from Russian state TV by saying that Moscow would not make guesses on the outcome of the meeting.
"We never make any predictions ahead of time," Lavrov said after he reached Alaska, wearing what appeared to be a shirt with "USSR" written across it in Cyrillic script. Russia's "position is clear and unambiguous. We will present it," he said.
Trump has promised to consult with European leaders and Zelenskyy, saying that any final agreement would come in a three-way meeting with Putin and the Ukrainian president to "divvy up" territory.
Trump's latest shift
Trump has boasted of his relationship with Putin, blamed predecessor Joe Biden for the war and had vowed before his return to the White House in January that he would be able to bring peace within 24 hours.
But despite repeated calls to Putin, and a stunning February 28 White House meeting in which Trump publicly berated Zelenskyy, the Russian leader has shown no signs of compromise.
Trump has acknowledged his frustration with Putin and warned of "very severe consequences" if he does not accept a ceasefire - but also agreed to see him in Alaska.
The talks are set to begin at 1900 GMT on Friday at the Elmendorf Air Force Base, the largest US military installation in Alaska and a Cold War base for surveillance of the former Soviet Union.
Adding to the historical significance, the United States bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia -- a deal Moscow has cited to show the legitimacy of land swaps.
The Kremlin said it expected Putin and Trump to meet alone with interpreters before a working lunch with aides.
Neither leader is expected to step off the base into Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, where protesters have put up signs of solidarity with Ukraine.
A 'personal victory' for Putin?
The summit marks a sharp shift from the approach of Western European leaders and Biden, who vowed not to hold discussions with Russia on Ukraine's future unless Kiev was also at the table.
Putin faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, leading him to curtail travel sharply since the war began. However, the United States is not party to the Hague tribunal and Trump's Treasury Department temporarily eased sanctions on top Russian officials to allow them to travel and use bank cards in Alaska.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the Alaska summit was a "personal victory" for Putin. With the trip, Putin "is coming out of isolation" and he has "somehow postponed sanctions," which Trump had vowed to impose on Russia if there was no progress.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also called for security guarantees for Ukraine -- an idea downplayed by Trump at the start of his latest term.
Daniel Fried, a former US diplomat now at the Atlantic Council think tank, said that Trump had the means to pressure Putin but that the Russian leader could distract him by seeming to offer something new. Putin, Fried said, "is a master of the new shiny object which turns out to be meaningless."
