At what was billed as an “historic” presidential summit, hastily put together in Alaska on Friday afternoon, the optics were as clear and overshadowing as the vast Chugach mountains glistening over Anchorage in the summer sun.

Trump’s meeting with Putin rolled back key red lines that Zelensky says Ukraine won’t cross. But Europe could be relying on Trump to flip-flop once again, writes

Russian President Putin speeches during their joint press conference with U.S. Persident Donald Trump after their meeing on war in Ukraine at U.S. Air Base In Alaska on August 15, 2025, in Anchorage,

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s final words at the Alaska summit were delivered with a smile, spoken in an uncharacteristic burst of English.

Both President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered brief remarks, but took no questions, in Alaska.

In a few short hours in Alaska, Vladimir Putin managed to convince Donald Trump that a Ukraine ceasefire was not the way to go, stave off U.S. sanctions, and spectacularly shatter years of Western attempts to isolate the Russian president.

Trump has visited Alaska several times as president, pushed for expanded oil, gas and mining permits there, and even got funding for new polar icebreakers, a popular stance in a state he won with 54% of the vote in 2024.

President Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin held a rare meeting Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.

One of the documents indicated Trump planned to give the Russian president an “American Bald Eagle Desk Statue.”