President Donald Trump's face-to-face high-stakes summit with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday could determine the fate of European security as well as the trajectory of the war in Ukraine.
The exclusion of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy already deals a heavy blow to the West’s policy of “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
Trump says there’s “a possibility” of the United States offering Ukraine security guarantees alongside European powers, “but not in the form of NATO.”
Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the summit with Putin in Alaska.
He said it will be up to the Ukrainians to decide whether to concede land to Putin as part of a peace deal, but added: “I think they’ll make the proper decision.”
“I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine,” Trump said. “I’m here to get them at a table.”
The office of President Emmanuel Macron says the French leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke Thursday and again Friday before the Trump-Putin summit. The two have agreed to meet each other after the U.S.-Russia summit, when “it will be most useful and effective.”
The brief readout of the exchanges didn’t detail any specifics of what Macron and Zelenskyy discussed.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are among the Trump administration officials joining the president for his flight to Alaska.
Trump will also be accompanied on Air Force One by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and top White House aides, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Monica Crowley, a former Fox News commentator serving as Trump’s chief of protocol, also are making the trip.
Trump made his first public comments on the day as he prepares to meet with Putin.
“HIGH STAKES!!!” he posted on Truth Social as his motorcade idled outside the White House shortly after sunrise in Washington.
He left the White House for Joint Base Andrews, the home base for Air Force One, at 7:32 a.m. ET. He was expected to meet Putin's plane in Alaska at 2 p.m. ET.
An early morning rain storm hit Anchorage, Alaska, just before 3 a.m. on Friday, and the streets leading to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson were sopping wet. The temperature was hovering right about 53° F early Friday morning.
Media from all over the world have descended on Anchorage for the top-level summit.
There was not much activity outside the base’s main gate early Friday morning, except for media setting up for the day or sending live images back to the networks.
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