U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The meeting is considered a potential breakthrough after weeks of frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting.
- U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin are meeting in Alaska now to discuss the war in Ukraine.
- Trump says he wants to negotiate a ceasefire deal: “I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.”
- The initial meeting at the airport tarmac was carefully choreographed, with a red-carpet handshake and military flyover before the presidents left in the same vehicle.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not invited to the summit, leading to concern any deal would be skewed in Russia’s favour.
- For now, we’re in a waiting period as it could be several hours until the meeting ends. Once discussions have finished, the two leaders are expected to speak at a news conference.
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Putin says decision to meet with Trump was mutual
- 21 minutes agoJohn Paul Tasker
- A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber lands after returning from Operation Midnight Hammer, the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. in June 2025. ( Handout/U.S. Air Force/Reuters)
- Just as Putin was approaching the welcome podium for that joint photo-op with Trump on arrival in Anchorage, the U.S. Air Force deployed a B-2 spirit bomber and an array of F-22 and F-35 fighter jets in the skies above.
- It appeared to catch Putin off guard as he jolted his head back to catch a glimpse of the American firepower directly overhead.
- It’s not clear if Trump called for the jets to fly over at that very moment — the former TV showman knows something about timing — but it was certainly a reminder to the Russian delegation of what the world’s most powerful military has in its arsenal.
- The American-made B-2 stealth bomber is considered a symbol of U.S. power. It can fly nearly around the world non-stop — it has a range of some 9,600 kilometres, according to its manufacturer, and can be refuelled in midair. It’s equipped to drop either conventional or nuclear weapons, virtually undetected.
- It’s also the aircraft the U.S. military used to destroy parts of Iran’s nuclear program earlier this year.
- 37 minutes agoGeorgie Smyth
- Protesters in Anchorage today. (Georgie Smyth/CBC)
- Karleen Leeper, who’s lived here for 30 years, told me she is “not hopeful of a great outcome” at the base, which is about 25 minutes from the protest in downtown Anchorage.
- She’s holding a homemade sign that says, “Dictators are not welcome here.”
- 49 minutes agoKevin Maimann
- Protesters during a rally in Anchorage on Thursday, ahead of the presidents’ meeting. (Jae C. Hong/The Associated Press)
- Protesters waved Ukrainian and American flags outside a shopping mall in Anchorage today as Trump and Putin met inside Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
- Many took jabs at both leaders, holding signs that said, “Alaska stands with Ukraine” and “Arrest Putin.”
- 1 hour agoGraeme Bruce
- Data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows Russia’s aerial assault on Ukraine has steadily intensified this year, with as many as 6,600 weapons launched in July 2025 alone. (Graeme Bruce/CBC Graphics)
- It’s true Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have not let up. Data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows Russia’s aerial assault on Ukraine has steadily intensified this year, with as many as 6,600 weapons launched last month alone.
- 1 hour agoKevin Maimann
- Emmanuelle Chaze, a France24 correspondent in Kyiv, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes U.S. President Donald Trump will manage to ‘put enough pressure’ on Russian President Vladimir Putin during their summit in Alaska.
- Elina Beketova, a fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis, told CBC News Network there is “a lot of anxiety” and “a lot of hope” in Ukraine as the country waits for the two leaders to emerge from their meeting.
- She said July has been the most severe month of fighting in Ukraine since the invasion began.
- “Now the question is, which side will Donald Trump choose?” she said.
- 2 hours agoGeorgie Smyth
- Laura Kalam, a reporter at Estonia’s Public Broadcaster, Eesti Rahvusringhääling, says she hopes there won’t be a deal made in Anchorage ‘behind Ukraine’s back.’ (Georgie Smythe/CBC)
- With the meeting now underway, we’ve been chatting with European journalists at the press centre in Anchorage about what’s at stake in their home countries.
- Whatever happens at Elmendorf could affect the future of people in Estonia, for whom Laura Kalam works, as a reporter at Eesti Rahvusringhääling, the country’s public broadcaster.
- Like Ukraine, Estonia was once part of the Soviet Union.
- “We do share a border with Russia,” Kalam said. “We’re a teeny-tiny nation. Luckily, we are in the European Union and we are in NATO.”
- She said her biggest hope is there won’t be a deal “behind Ukraine’s back.”
- 2 hours agoGraeme Bruce
- A map shows Russia’s control in Ukraine as of Friday. (Graeme Bruce/CBC Graphics)
- I work on CBC’s digital graphics desk.
- Here’s a map showing where things stand in Ukraine, as Trump and Putin meet in Alaska. Russian forces occupy a significant portion of Ukraine territory. Apart from the large swath of land in the southeast (the Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia), it also controls a small portion of land in the northeast, near Sumy and Kharkiv. Putin has said these areas are “buffer zones.”
- These regions are of particular interest because, last week, Trump suggested a deal to end the fighting could include “some swapping of territory.”
- 2 hours agoKevin Maimann
- Putin’s aims for Friday’s summit also seem to stretch far beyond his personal image and the war in Ukraine. Russian officials have said they’re interested in discussing a range of topics today, including trade and nuclear arms.
- Putin’s military goals include claiming Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine and halting the expansion of NATO. Experts have also said Putin wants to subjugate Ukraine, which potentially opens the door to threaten other parts of Europe.
- 2 hours agoJohn Paul Tasker
- Putin during the sit-down on Friday. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press)
- Whatever happens at the summit today, Putin can still chalk this summit up as a win, experts tell me.
- The Russian president has been a pariah, especially in the West, since he launched his brutal invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
- Today, as we’ve noted here, Putin has been welcomed on American soil with a red carpet and a seemingly friendly greeting from Trump on the tarmac. The two rode over to the summit site together in Trump’s limousine, also known as “The Beast,” giving the Russian leader a chance to bend the ear of the U.S. president without an audience.
- “It’s unlikely that the summit is actually going to produce any substantive outcome other than this legitimation of Putin in the eyes of many Americans,” said Michael Carpenter, a former senior director for Europe at the National Security Council.
- “Putin’s an indicted war criminal who has been isolated by much of the Western world, and yet he’s the big winner from this summit in Alaska because he gets a platform on the world stage.”
- 2 hours agoJohn Paul Tasker
- Putin and Trump shook hands and spoke briefly at the airport. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
- It wasn’t long ago that Trump was exasperated with Putin, telling the world that the Russian president often says one thing to him and then does another.
- Trump called out what he described as Putin’s “bullshit” and branded Russia’s relentless bombing of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities as “disgusting.”
- But we’re not seeing that sort of anger from the U.S. president today — in fact, he’s looked rather jovial greeting Putin on the tarmac of this military base in Alaska.
- Putin, too, cracked a smile as he greeted his American counterpart.
- The two leaders were more stoic and straight-faced in front of the cameras later, as they sat down with their officials for the “pursuing peace” meeting. The talks are expected to last several hours.
