Goals and Challenges: The Key Objectives for Putin and Trump at the Alaska Summit

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet at a U.S. military base in Alaska on Friday to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.

There are significant expectations for this first summit between the leaders of the U.S. and Russia in over four years, yet both Moscow and Kyiv still have vastly different perspectives on how to resolve the conflict.

This will mark Putin’s inaugural visit to a Western nation since the commencement of his invasion in February 2022, and his first trip to the U.S. in a decade.

Below is an overview of what each party aims to accomplish during the discussions:

For Putin, who has endured years of Western isolation following the invasion, the meeting serves as a chance to advocate for Russia’s stringent conditions for ending the hostilities.

In a proposed peace agreement released in June, Russia demanded that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions, which Moscow claims to have annexed in 2022. Ukraine has dismissed this proposition outright.

Additionally, Russia has urged Ukraine to cease its military mobilization, abandon any aspirations for NATO membership, and called on Western nations to stop supplying weapons—demands that critics view as tantamount to surrender.

Beyond mere territorial claims, Russia seeks assurances that the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking populace in Ukraine will be upheld and wants a ban on what it terms the «glorification of Nazism.»

Furthermore, Russia is asking for the removal of Western sanctions.

Ukraine refutes Russia’s claims of Nazism as ridiculous and asserts that it already protects the rights of Russian-speaking individuals.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not set to attend the summit but has emphasized that any peace agreement must involve his participation, characterizing the meeting as a «personal victory» for Putin.

Ukraine is advocating for an unconditional ceasefire on land, at sea, and in the air as a prerequisite for any peace negotiations.

It insists that both parties should release all prisoners of war and is demanding the return of Ukrainian children that it claims have been unlawfully taken by Russia.

Ukraine alleges that Russia has forcibly relocated thousands of Ukrainian children into territories it controls since the onset of the war, often placing them in Russian families and conferring Russian citizenship.

Russia denies these kidnapping allegations but does acknowledge that many children are residing in its territory.

Ukraine maintains that any agreement must include security guarantees to prevent future Russian attacks, and that there should be no limits on the number of troops it can station within its own borders.

It asserts that sanctions against Russia should only be lifted incrementally, with provisions for their reinstatement if necessary.

Trump has declared that he could end the war within «24 hours» of taking office in January. However, eight months later, and despite several conversations with Putin and multiple visits from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia, he has not secured any significant concessions from the Kremlin.

The summit represents his first chance to negotiate a deal face-to-face.

The U.S. President, who authored «Trump: The Art of the Deal,» stated on Wednesday that «very severe consequences» would ensue for Russia if it did not cease its offensive.

Initially, Trump suggested that there might be some «land exchanges» discussed at the talks, but he seemed to backtrack on that notion following discussions with European leaders.

He conveyed a desire to see a ceasefire «very, very quickly.»

Nonetheless, the White House has tempered expectations for a major breakthrough, describing the gathering as more of a «listening exercise» for Trump.

«If the first meeting goes well, we will quickly arrange a second one,» Trump suggested, indicating that Zelensky might participate in a future summit.

Despite providing military aid to Ukraine and accommodating millions of Ukrainian refugees, European leaders have been excluded from peace dialogues that could shape the region’s future security landscape.

European representatives were not invited to the previous three meetings involving Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul, nor to the Russia-U.S. discussions in Riyadh in February.

In a recent statement, leaders from Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland, and the European Commission cautioned that meaningful peace can only be achieved with Ukraine’s involvement.

«Territorial issues regarding Ukraine can only be negotiated by the Ukrainian president,» French President Emmanuel Macron stated after his conversation with Trump on Wednesday.

Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer have also indicated their willingness to deploy peacekeeping forces in Ukraine once hostilities cease, a concept that Russia has firmly opposed.