During his Fox News interview, Trump cited Putin in his criticism of mail-in voting.
“Vladimir Putin, smart guy, said, ‘You can’t have an honest election with mail-in voting.’ And he said, ‘There’s not a country in the world that uses it.'”
“It can’t be honest. It goes through a postman. It goes through somebody else, somebody else, somebody you know. … When you go to a really well-run voting booth, you go in, you have to hand a card, a picture, or this or that, you don’t have everything perfect,” Trump continued.
Russian elections have been rife with fraud for years. Putin, who has led Russia for two decades, claimed victory in 2024 with nearly 90% of the vote, extending his rule for six more years.
U.S. intelligence agencies have previously concluded that Russia, under Putin’s direction, has interfered in American elections.
A misunderstanding of Russia’s stance on Ukraine by Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff may have provided the initial impetus for Friday’s hastily organized summit, according to a European official and two former U.S. officials.
Ukraine’s supporters have felt for some time now that Putin has taken advantage of Witkoff’s inexperience in high-level diplomacy. In this instance, European governments believe Witkoff may have misunderstood Russia’s position on a possible Ukraine ceasefire after holding talks with Putin and then conveyed an inaccurate picture to European allies and Ukraine afterward, the sources said.
Witkoff came away thinking that Russia was proposing a “peaceful withdrawal” of its troops from two regions of Ukraine, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — in fact, though, Putin was demanding that Ukraine pull its forces out of those regions, the sources said.
The German newspaper Bild first reported last weekend on the possibly garbled message conveyed by Witkoff.
A White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, rejected the account.
“This is fake news,” Kelly told NBC News in an email. “Joe Biden’s weak administration didn’t understand foreign policy and allowed Russia to invade Ukraine.”
She added: “Steve Witkoff is clear with everyone, and he and President Trump are working towards peace with a complete and accurate understanding of the all the factors at play.”
Trump suggested in his Fox News interview that land swaps and Ukraine security were negotiated during his summit with Putin.
Hannity predicted there would be “some land swaps” and “more Russian territory” and Ukraine will get “security measures that won’t be NATO-related.”
Asked if that’s how it ends, Trump said, “I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on. Actually, I think we’ve agreed on a lot.”
Trump said during an interview tonight on Fox News that after his summit with Putin, Russia and Ukraine will set up a meeting to discuss next steps in the ongoing conflict and a potential ceasefire deal.
“They’re going to set up a meeting now, between President Zelenskyy and President Putin and myself, I guess,” Trump said during the interview with host Sean Hannity.
He did not provide details on the meeting or any specifics on potential timing.
Trump said that European nations “have to get involved a little bit, but it’s up to President Zelenskyy.”
It is “really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done,” Trump said, adding, “we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.”
Asked by Hannity later in the interview whether his presence at that meeting had been discussed, Trump said: “Yeah, it did. I mean, they both want me there, and I’ll be there.”
Trump said during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the summit, but before he departed Alaska, that he doesn’t want to publicly disclose what disagreement he had with Putin.
“No, I’d rather not,” Trump said when asked if he’s prepared to go public with the issue he had with Putin.
He added, “I guess somebody is going to go public with it. They’ll figure it out. But no, I don’t want to do that. I want to see if we can get it done. You know, it’s still, it’s not a done deal at all. And … Ukraine has to agree. I mean, you know, President Zelenskyy has to agree.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she was “cautiously optimistic” about today’s summit and urged for Ukraine to be included in future meetings between the United States and Russia.
“While the press conference offered few details about their meeting, I’m cautiously optimistic about the signals that some level of progress was made. It was also encouraging to hear both presidents reference future meetings, which I hope will include Ukraine,” Murkowski wrote on X. “Ukraine must be part of any negotiated settlement and must freely agree to its terms as we seek an end to the violent, unlawful war being waged against it.”
Ukraine was not invited to today’s summit.
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., defended Trump’s summit with Putin, calling the meeting between the two leaders “a step in the right direction.”
“The fact remains that President Trump is the leader the world needs in this moment, and I’m confident he will continue to work around the clock to end this conflict,” Britt wrote on X.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took aim at Trump’s handling of Putin at today’s summit, saying that Trump “rolled out the red carpet for authoritarian thug Vladimir Putin.”
“Instead of standing with Ukraine and our allies, Trump stood shoulder to shoulder with an autocrat that has terrorized the Ukrainian people and the globe for years,” Schumer wrote in a post on X.
Schumer also echoed the concerns of other Democrats that the meeting had not yielded progress toward ending the war.
“While we wait for critical details of what was discussed—on first take it appears Trump handed Putin legitimacy, a global stage, zero accountability, and got nothing in return. Our fear is that this wasn’t diplomacy—it was just theater,” he added.
Trump boarded Air Force One en route back to Washington, D.C., and did not stop to speak with reporters, as he often does while traveling.
He also did not take any questions from the press at what was billed as a joint news conference with Putin after the summit. Putin also did not take questions.
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
Putin’s plane has taken off, departing Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
Alexander Vindman, who played a key role in the first impeachment inquiry into Trump for his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, said after today’s summit that Trump “looked weak and inconsequential.”
“He’s diminished the office of President and made the United States irrelevant,” he added in a post on X.
Vindman served on the White House National Security Council during Trump’s first term as the top expert on Ukraine. He testified before Congress during the impeachment inquiry that he had listened in on the infamous July 2019 call Trump held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump asked for Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
The House, which was controlled by Democrats at the time, eventually voted to impeach Trump, but the Senate acquitted him weeks later.
Vindman’s twin brother, Eugene Vindman, is a congressman in the House representing a district in northern and central Virginia.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that Trump’s bilateral meeting today with Russia served as an “undeserved reward for Putin.”
“President Trump should have pressured Putin by imposing crushing sanctions on his war machine and providing Ukraine with the tools it needs to defend itself. Instead, by quite literally rolling out the red carpet, Trump has legitimized Russia’s aggression and whitewashed Putin’s war crimes. It’s shameful,” Meeks, D-N.Y., said.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a former Navy combat pilot, also criticized Trump over the high-stakes summit in a post on X.
“Treat a war criminal like royalty, hide the meeting, share nothing. Putin gets a headline and Ukraine gets what? Next time, ink the deal first,” he wrote.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California also took aim at the joint press conference, writing in all caps in a post on X, “Trump just fled the podium with Putin — no questions, nothing! Total low energy. The man looked like he’d just eaten 3 buckets of KFC with Vlad,” he wrote, referring to Putin.
“Enjoy your flight home, Donald — you’re Putin’s problem now. I’m America’s solution,” he added. Newsom is considered a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.
Reporting from Kharkiv, Ukraine
I’m in the city of Kharkiv, and just moments ago, as that sort of inconclusive press conference was ending, we heard the air raid sirens go off here.
We didn’t hear them going off throughout the summit, but perhaps on cue, we heard them a short while ago, and those are an indication that there is a Russian drone or missile attack in or around this area.
Putin seems to have come out of the summit having racked up a few wins, getting the full red-carpet treatment with — at least in public — no threats of sanctions from Trump and no urgent pressure to make concessions in the war in Ukraine.
It’s still too soon to know precisely what was discussed after neither leader divulged details of their conversation. But for the moment, Putin appears to have bought himself more time despite Trump having set deadlines in July for immediate progress on a ceasefire.
Just as important for the Russian president, Putin was treated as an important leader of a powerful country, not a pariah indicted for war crimes who has presided over an unprovoked invasion in the heart of Europe. The summit’s optics were surely how the Kremlin wanted to portray the event: a meeting of equals, with Ukraine given secondary status.
Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
NBC News’ Richard Engel offers analysis on the meeting between Trump and Putin and what Ukraine’s reaction may be after a meeting where few details about what was agreed to were shared.
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
Pulling back the curtain a bit, something that struck me in the press conference room was the appearance of some of Trump’s top aides. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared a bit stressed as they arrived here shortly after the meeting took place.
Another telling indication was with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was joking a bit with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the front row.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio talk before the news conference.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP – Getty Images
Evelyn Farkas, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense covering Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia under President Barack Obama, said in a post on X after the press event that the U.S. should now boost assistance to Ukraine.
“Unsurprisingly, no deal,” she wrote. “Putin was always just stalling. Looks like cold water tossed on the US ideas. Putin doesn’t want peace, won’t compromise.”
She added, “Time to arm up Ukraine fast, slap on some more sanctions. Russia must be defeated militarily for Kremlin to negotiate.”
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
I’m struck by what I think a lot of critics are going to note right now, which is that Putin appears to have gotten most everything that he wanted from this visit here.
He got a photo-op with the president of the United States, where the red carpet was rolled out. They shared the stage and handshakes and smiles. They also shared a ride in “The Beast.”
Separately, it appears that at this time there is no ceasefire that was agreed to — which is to say that Putin can continue his offensive taking place in Ukraine right now.
Finally, and perhaps most notably, Putin avoided additional sanctions that the U.S. was supposed to levy against Russia this time last week.
Putin and Trump spoke for a total of 12 minutes during the press event.
The Russian president spoke for 8 minutes and 30 seconds and Trump spoke for 3 minutes and 24 seconds.
During his remarks this evening, Trump spoke specifically about the investigation into Russian interference in connection with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Interference that Trump has frequently rejected as a “hoax.”
“We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax,” Trump said.
“He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax,” Trump added, referring to Putin.
“What was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country in terms of the business and all of the things that we’d like to have dealt with, but we’ll have a good chance when this is over,” Trump said.
The press event was remarkably short, lasting around 12 minutes, with Trump and Putin not making clear exactly what agreement the two came to and offering sparse details. They walked offstage immediately after speaking and did not take any questions from reporters in the room.
Putin and Trump shake hands at the end of the news conference.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
After Trump concluded his remarks by thanking Putin, the Russia president said in English: “Next time in Moscow,” to which Trump responded that the remark would get him “a little heat,” but that he “could see it possibly happening.”
Trump said in his remarks that the U.S. and Russia “haven’t quite gotten there” in the summit, but said he and Putin “made some headway.”
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said.
“I will call up NATO in a little while, I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I’ll, of course, call up President Zelenskyy and tell him about today’s meeting. It’s ultimately up to them.”
Trump also said they had a “very productive meeting” and there were “many, many points that we agreed on.”
Putin thanked Trump for the bilateral meeting this afternoon, and said that Trump was correct in saying that his war with Ukraine would not have begun had he been president in 2022 when the war got underway.
Putin also said that Trump will “help us bring back business life and pragmatic relations between Russia and the U.S.”
Putin said in his remarks that an agreement reached with Trump will “pave the path toward peace in Ukraine,” whose invasion he directed three years ago.
The Russian president didn’t specify what that agreement entails and Trump made no reference to one being reached. In fact, he made it clear that they didn’t reach a compromise.
“As I’ve said, the situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security,” Putin said.
The Russian president said that in order to reach a permanent deal, they need to eliminate “all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict.”
“I agree with President Trump, as he has said today, that naturally, the security of Ukraine should be ensured as well. Naturally, we have prepared to work on that,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks in Anchorage today.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP – Getty Images
Putin, who is speaking first at tonight’s press conference, said that when he landed in Anchorage this afternoon, he greeted Trump as they each disembarked from their respective planes as his “dear neighbor,” and that he was grateful to see the American president in good health.
“I think that is very neighborly,” Putin said.
Putin begins the press conference with remarks. It’s unusual that Putin would be speaking first as the visiting leader.
Trump and Putin are each standing at their respective lecterns to begin their joint press conference.
Trump and Putin arrive for a joint news conference today.Jae C. Hong / AP
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
One Secret Service agent told NBC News that the security process today was much more meticulous than usual. It was so meticulous that as we waited on buses to enter, Secret Service agents opened each of the prepared breakfast boxes brought for attendees to make sure nothing was snuck onto the property before the Trump-Putin meeting took place today.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who attended the meeting with Trump, Putin and other aides, has entered the press conference room.
Witkoff has played a key role in negotiations, especially in organizing the summit, which is happening after he recently met in person with Putin in Moscow.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff speaks with staff as he waits for the news conference to begin.Drew Angerer / AFP – Getty Images
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was also present in the meeting, has taken his seat in the press conference room, too. They are joined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
As we wait for the U.S.-Russian press conference to begin, there are members of both the Russian and American delegations sitting in the first rows on each side in front of the stage. Notably, none of the individuals in the audience were inside the meeting between Trump and Putin earlier today.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, walks into the briefing room ahead of the news conference.Drew Angerer / AFP – Getty Images
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
Remember that Trump said his first call after the Putin meeting would be to Zelenskyy. Is it possible that’s what he’s doing now?
On Monday, Trump said: “I think out of respect, I’ll call him first”
He added yesterday: “We’re going to be calling President Zelenskyy if it’s a good meeting. If it’s a bad meeting, I’m not calling anybody. I’m going home.”
The White House billed this evening’s briefing as a joint press conference between Trump and Putin, in a livestream on X this evening.
The Kremlin also said in a post on Telegram that Putin would be attending a press conference with Trump, where both leaders are expected to speak.
The Trump-Putin summit has reached the 2.5-hour mark, according to White House aide Dan Scavino’s post on X.
The bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin has lasted nearly two hours.
A working lunch with the expanded delegations is not yet underway, according to a White House official.
Trump previously said that he would know the direction of talks within the first few minutes of his sit-down with Putin.
Trump needs to take a firm line with Putin to deter Moscow and send a signal to Ukrainians that the U.S. has not abandoned their cause, a Democratic congressman who co-chairs the Congressional Ukraine Caucus said Friday.
“Putin is a brutal dictator who invaded Ukraine. He understands strength, and he doesn’t see it in Trump,” Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois told NBC News.
Trump has yet to follow through on threats to impose economic penalties on Russia, has expressed reluctance to approve more U.S. military assistance for Ukraine and has often criticized Zelenskyy, Quigley said.
But if Trump showed more resolve toward Russia, it would provide a morale boost to the Ukrainians, who are fighting a grinding war of attrition against a larger army, Quigley said.
“They are suffering slow setbacks,” Quigley said of the Ukrainians. “From a morale point of view, if Trump wanted to actually impact this, getting tough would give them hope tomorrow.”
Ahead of the meeting, Trump predicted he would know “within the first two minutes, three minutes, four or five minutes” whether his talks with Putin would be a “good meeting or a bad meeting.”
So far, the two leaders have spent about 10 minutes together riding in the U.S. presidential limo, without interpreters, and have been in meetings for about 90 minutes now with their top aides.
“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 told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.
Putin ignored additional questions from reporters during a brief press spray before the bilateral meeting.
The summit between Trump and the Russian president was also attended by translators, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, Russia’s Defense Minister Andrei Belousoy and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Putin was asked if he would agree to a ceasefire and he only raised his eyebrow, looked to the side and shook his head.
The White House posted an image on X this afternoon of Trump and Putin side by side, kicking off their meeting.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Anchorage that he believes Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine are Putin’s way of setting a foundation to make a deal.
“I think they’re trying to negotiate. He’s trying to set a stage. I mean, in his mind, that helps him make a better deal,” Trump said of Putin.
“In his mind, that helps him make a better deal — if they can continue the killing. Maybe it’s a part of the world, maybe it’s just his fabric, his genes, his genetics. But he thinks that makes him — gives him strength in negotiating. I think it hurts him, but I’ll be talking to him about it later,” Trump added.
Earlier today, Trump said Russia would face “economically severe” consequences if Putin does not appear interested in peace.
“It will be very severe,” Trump told reporters. “I’m not doing this for my health, OK? I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country. But I’m doing this to save a lot of lives. Yeah, very severe.”
The president has threatened secondary tariffs on countries, and this summer he hit imports from India with new tariffs because it buys Russian oil.
Putin is not only meeting with Trump in Alaska to address Russia’s war in Ukraine, but to also get his country back on the world stage.
The Russian president is hoping for economic wins from this summit as his country’s economy has become weaker as a result of U.S. and European sanctions that came in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP – Getty Images
A crowd of people voicing support for Ukraine is demonstrating outside Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
Many protesters are holding Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag and one large parachute-sized flag in blue and yellow that reads “Alaska Stands With Ukraine.”
Moments after Trump’s talks with Putin kicked off, Trump began fundraising off of the meeting.
“I’m meeting with Putin in Alaska! It’s a little chilly,” the fundraising email said. “THIS MEETING IS VERY HIGH STAKES for the world.”
The email urged supporters to “stand with Trump” and “give $10.”
Russian media is reporting that there was a car waiting for Putin on the tarmac. It’s unclear why the Russian leader instead got inside “The Beast” with Trump.
In an interview en route to Alaska, Trump told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” that “you don’t want to have too many expectations” ahead of trying to make deals.
“I’d like to see a ceasefire,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t be thrilled if I didn’t get it, but everyone says, ‘You’re not going to get the ceasefire, it’ll take place on the second meeting.'”
Trump reiterated that the parties would hold a second meeting “if things work out.” He previously said that the second meeting would include Zelenskyy, who was excluded today.
This isn’t the first time Trump has held a high-stakes meeting with a U.S. adversary.
Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019, taking the unprecedented step of walking on North Korean land. Ultimately, though, the two did not make a deal.
If history repeats itself, Trump and Putin will not necessarily come to an agreement in Alaska. Russian officials have expressed to NBC News that they’re aware of Trump’s unpredictability and are taking it into their calculations.
I’ve spoken to Zelenskyy repeatedly and he is adamant that he will not agree to cede Ukrainian territory to Russia in a hypothetical resolution to the war.
Trump and Putin were in the motorcade together for about 10 minutes on their way from the tarmac to the meeting area.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. NBC News
The high-stakes meeting between Trump, Putin and senior officials has kicked off.
Cameras briefly got their first glimpse of Trump and Putin sitting side by side ahead of their bilateral meeting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff sat to Trump’s left, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin aide Yuri Ushakov sat beside Putin.
Reporters were quickly ushered out of the room after shouting questions.
Trump’s seemingly warm greeting of Putin stands in stark contrast to the extraordinary White House clash between Trump and Zelenskyy in late February.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance chastised Zelenskyy inside the Oval Office, reprimanding the Ukrainian president for not showing enough gratitude to the U.S. for its military assistance.
The images of Trump and Putin shaking hands and laughing on the tarmac are stunning. These history-making images will be replayed and rewatched for years to come.
Putin speaks some conversational English, though English-language exchanges with the Russian leader can be stilted. It’s possible Putin attempted to make small talk with Trump in English.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
The two leaders have left the tarmac together, with Putin joining Trump in his presidential vehicle, “The Beast.”
They appeared to be alone in the back seat — an image that likely won’t sit well with Ukrainian officials who have been excluded from the summit, “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas said.
According to NBC News’ Keir Simmons, Putin does speak English and can speak without an interpreter.
Trump and Putin ignored several reporters’ questions as they stood on a navy blue platform that said in large letters, “Alaska 2025.”
The two leaders stood shaking hands as reporters shouted questions, asking Putin, for example, if he would support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine.
Trump and Putin are exchanging greetings on the red carpet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. This is Putin’s first time on U.S. soil in a decade.
In conversations with everyday Ukrainians, I’ve heard hope about these talks — but not optimism.
There’s hope because Ukrainians are desperate for a ceasefire after more than three years of grinding war. Every night, Russia’s military attacks Ukrainian cities. Everyday people here want this conflict to end.
But many of those same people are not optimistic about the outcome of the Trump-Putin summit.
They don’t believe that offering Ukrainian territory to Putin will satisfy the Russian leader, and they’re not convinced he’ll walk away so easily.
Putin has arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Trump is expected to meet the Russian leader on a red carpet laid out on the tarmac.
Putin has yet to arrive in Anchorage, which raises the question of whether the Russian leader will keep Trump waiting. Putin is notorious for keeping people — even world leaders — waiting ahead of scheduled meetings. It’s a tactic he uses to keep the upper hand.
Then again, Putin could arrive on time in an effort to flatter Trump and the Americans.
In a video message posted on social media shortly before Putin was expected to arrive in Alaska, Zelenskyy said the Russian military continues to pummel Ukraine even on the day of the summit.
“On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well. And that speaks volumes,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X that accompanied the video.
“Recently, weʼve discussed with the U.S. and Europeans what can truly work. Everyone needs a just end to the war. Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to bring the war to an end.”
Zelenskyy was not invited to the summit.
In a video posted to Truth Social, Trump is heard telling reporters aboard Air Force One that he wants to see a ceasefire “rapidly.” He added: “I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.”
“Everyone said it can’t be today, but I’m just saying I want the killing to stop. I’m in this to stop the killing,” Trump went on to say, echoing rhetoric he has used in the past about the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In response to a question about what would constitute success at the end, Trump said: “I can’t tell you that. I don’t know. There’s nothing set in stone.”
Air Force One touched down in Anchorage at 10:20 a.m. local time after a six-hour flight.
F-22 fighter jets on the tarmac with Air Force One in the distance after President Donald Trump landed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP – Getty Images
A senior White House official tells NBC News that Trump will be joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff for today’s meeting with Putin and his advisers.
This replaces what was originally described as a one-on-one between Trump and Putin, per this official.
Interpreters are expected to attend as well.
Attending the bilateral working lunch are Rubio, Witkoff, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
In the summit press area at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the American and Russian press corps have been largely kept separate.
American journalists occupy one half of a press tent; Russians, the other. American reporters have a Wi-Fi connection; the Russians have their own.
Peter Nicholas / NBC News
When it came for the press to go through security, Secret Service swept the Russian side first, the Americans second.
One place where journalists from the two countries can mingle: an outdoor smoking area off the room where Trump and possibly Putin will hold a joint news conference. A sign on a tent flap marks the smoking area, written in both Russian and English.
Peter Nicholas / NBC News
Demonstrators gather outside of Washington, D.C.’s police headquarters to protest the federal government’s takeover of the force.
Attorney General Pam Bondi sent letters to 33 governors, mayors and county board members across the country attacking their “sanctuary jurisdiction policies” and directing them to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts under threat of prosecution.
“You are hereby notified that your jurisdiction has been identified as one that engages in sanctuary policies and practices that thwart federal immigration enforcement to the detriment of the interests of the United States. This ends now,” Bondi said in the mostly identical letters.
The letters, which are dated yesterday, say Bondi is “committed to identifying state and local laws, policies, and practices that facilitate violations of federal immigration laws or impede lawful federal immigration operations, and taking legal action to challenge such laws, policies, or practices.”
“Individuals operating under the color of law, using their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts and facilitating or inducing illegal immigration may be subject to criminal charges,” she wrote, while state and local entities “may also be subject to civil liabilities.”
The letters direct officials in those jurisdictions to respond by Tuesday in a letter “that confirms your commitment to complying with federal law and identifies the immediate initiatives you are taking to eliminate laws, policies, and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement.”
The letters were sent to the governors of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington along with other local jurisdictions.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong issued a statement today saying there “is nothing in our laws or statutes that says Connecticut is a ‘sanctuary’ state,” and he “is prepared to pursue all legal rights and remedies to defend our sovereignty and the people and families of Connecticut from federal overreach.”
Bondi has already filed numerous civil suits over states’ sanctuary policies. A suit against Illinois was dismissed last month.
Ben Hodges, the former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, told NBC News today he has serious doubts about the talks in Alaska.
“I have very low expectations for this summit between Presidents Trump and Putin, and it seems the Trump administration is also busy lowering expectations,” Hodges said.
Hodges went on to criticize the Trump administration’s approach to the meeting in scathing terms.
“The Trump administration has taken a doomed approach from the beginning because they never clearly identified a desired strategic objective for the outcome of the Russian war against Ukraine (same mistake as Biden administration),” Hodges said.
“They never understood or cared about the geography or history or culture involved in this war, and have not even tried to actually use the enormous economic leverage available to force Russia to stop its aggression,” he added.
Hodges closed with a direct shot at Trump’s acumen for geopolitical negotiation.
“President Trump’s approach is of a businessman from the late 1990s working a real estate deal in Manhattan,” he said.
Kirill Dmitriev, a Putin adviser who heads Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, posted a 13-second clip on X showing his encounter with a bear somewhere in the wilds of Alaska.
“Met a bear in Alaska before the US-Russia Summit,” Dmitriev wrote, adding a teddy bear emoji as a fluorish. “Hopefully a good sign,” he added with a smiley face emoji.
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
The White House has not responded to questions about if or how the president is preparing in these last hours before the summit he himself has described as “HIGH STAKES.” But in the last hour, Trump has posted repeatedly about domestic political issues, including trolling Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, and suggesting Democrats are paying for people to protest his effort to fight crime in D.C.
Congressional Democrats are introducing a joint resolution to terminate Trump’s federalization of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of D.C. and Rep. Robert Garcia of California are leading the effort in the House, while Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland will introduce the legislation in the Senate.
The resolution, which is likely dead on arrival under the Republican-controlled Congress, says the president “has failed to identify special conditions of an emergency nature that compel the use of the Metropolitan Police Department for Federal purposes in the District of Columbia.”
“The only emergency here is a lawless president experiencing a growing public relations emergency because of his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his stubborn refusal to release the Epstein file despite his promise to do so,” Raskin said.
Van Hollen called Trump’s moves “an abuse of power” and a “raw power grab.” “It is a direct attack on the ability of the people of the District of Columbia to govern their own affairs,” he said.
Speaking to Russian state media, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, spoke about the upcoming summit, including the bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin, the meeting between the delegations of both nations, and the expected press conference.
“In general, one can imagine that, of course, this might take at least six to seven hours,” he said.
Authorities carrying out the federal takeover of the D.C. police force made a total of 33 arrests across the district last night, according to a White House official — including 15 people who were said to be undocumented immigrants.
Federal authorities seized what the official described as eight illegal firearms. The people arrested included those suspected of first-degree murder, first-degree rape and aggravated assault, according to the official.
On the day of negotiations, Russia is “also killing,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post in which he listed strikes on the Dnipropetrovsk Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Donetsk regions of his country.
“The war continues. It continues precisely because there is not only no order, but also no signals about Moscow’s preparation to end this war,” Zelenskyy said.
“Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to end the war. We hope for a strong American position,” he added. “Everything will depend on this.”
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
Trump will host his Russian counterpart, Putin, for a meeting here today in an audacious bid to broker a peace deal and stop a three-year war with Ukraine and its ever-rising body count.
Trump spent the run-up to the summit tempering expectations that it would produce a breakthrough, casting it instead as a prelude to an as-yet-unscheduled meeting that would include Zelenskyy.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced that a second special legislative session will begin today, hours after the first one came to a close after state House Democrats blocked the GOP from enacting its redistricting plan.
In a statement, Abbott blasted the “delinquent House Democrats [who] ran away from their responsibility to pass crucial legislation to benefit the lives of Texans,” specifically noting legislation on issues like flood relief, school standards and more.
But the crux of the debate over the special session has instead been over the GOP-backed plan to pad the party’s majority in the U.S. House by embarking on a rare, midcycle redistricting plan. Democrats have been fiercely critical of the plan and accused Republicans of holding flood relief hostage over the partisan redistricting fight.
While the Democratic lawmakers haven’t explicitly said whether they’ll return home for this session, they’ve begun signaling in recent days that they’ll consider blocking the first session a victory and consider returning to Austin.
D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith, responding to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s order last night effectively stripping her of her authority, said she had “never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive.”
“If effectuated, the Bondi Order would upend the command structure of MPD, endangering the safety of the public and law enforcement officers alike,” Smith wrote in a sworn declaration supporting the city’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over its federalization of the city’s police force.
Smith’s declaration could play a significant role at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes at 2 p.m. today on the lawsuit.
“Imposing a new command structure ‘effective immediately’ will wreak operational havoc within MPD and create tremendous risk for the public,” Smith wrote. “The new command structure will create confusion for MPD personnel, who are required under District law to respect and obey the Chief of Police as the head and chief of the police force.”
“There is no greater risk to public safety in a paramilitary organization than to not know who is in command,” Smith wrote.
Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska
Security at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the venue for the summit, is tight.
How tight?
In the hours before the summit, Secret Service agents were seen opening up dozens of boxed lunches one by one and inspecting the contents.
The Texas House gaveled out this morning day ending the first special legislative session, where Republicans were unable to pass a plan to pad their party’s majority in the U.S. House thanks to a walkout by state Democrats.
But that victory for Democrats is likely to be short-lived, as Gov. Greg Abbott has promised to call “special session after special session” until the party’s priorities, including redistricting and flood relief, are passed. Abbott could announce the beginning of a new special session as soon as today.
“Do not go very far, as I believe our governor will be calling us back for another special session very, very soon,” House Speaker Dustin Burrows said.
State House Democrats, who have been out of the state for two weeks in protest of the redistricting plan, have celebrated their efforts and claimed victory in preventing Republican leaders from enacting the plan during the first special session.
The state House caucus declared yesterday that they would return to the state once “two critical conditions are met”: the end of the first special session and California’s introduction of a plan to redraw its own state maps in response to Texas.
The first special session in Texas is now over, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced his plan for a special election to ask voters to green-light the Democrats’ plan to temporarily redraw their maps yesterday.
While en route to Alaska to meet with Trump, Putin met with hockey players at a sports complex in Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk.
Alexie Nikolsky / AFP – Getty Images
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., blasted the summit early today, telling MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he believes a peace deal is unlikely.
Murphy, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, characterized the talks as a “big moment for Putin because he essentially is being legitimized in the eyes of the United States and in the eyes of the world.”
“We know there’s not going to be any major peace deal here, largely because one of the parties to the war isn’t at the table,” Murphy said, referring to the absence of Zelenskyy.
Murphy went on to dismiss the summit as a “photo-op” that “essentially legitimizes war crimes [and] telegraphs to other autocrats or evil men around the world that they can get away with murdering civilians and still get a photo-op with the president of the United States.”
Recent polls show Trump underwater with Americans on his handling of the war between Russia and Ukraine and that the public is warming in its support for financial aid to Ukraine.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll found 41% of registered voters approve of Trump’s handling of the war, while 51% disapprove. (The poll surveyed 1,500 registered voters from July 16-20 and has an error margin of 2.5%.) A Pew survey from early August found 41% of adults said they have confidence that Trump can handle the war, while 59% said they were not confident. (Pew’s poll has an error margin of 1.8%.)
Both polls, as well as a mid-July Fox News poll, found increasing levels of support for America providing support to Ukraine.
In the Wall Street Journal poll, for example, 58% of registered voters said they favored the U.S. sending additional financial aid to Ukraine to support the war effort, while 36% opposed that. That’s up from 46% favoring sending more aid and 49% opposing it in the outlet’s poll in January.
In an interview on MSNBC this morning, Dmytro Kuleba, the former foreign minister of Ukraine, cast doubt on the idea that Russia is ready to end the war.
“Is ceasefire an attainable goal? Yes, it is. Is the end to the war in Ukraine attainable at this point? No, it is not,” Kuleba told “Morning Joe.”
“Even if there is a pause in the form of a ceasefire, there is a wide understanding that it will only be a pause,” he added.
“The conversation itself is a good sign and it needs to be continued because Ukrainians, they keep fighting and they will keep fighting,” Kuleba said.
“But it is also true to say that Ukrainians are exhausted and we all need a chance for peace to secure,” he added.
Protesters gathered in Anchorage today to rally against the Trump-Putin summit, expressing skepticism over whether it will bear any results. Several voiced disappointment that Zelenskyy was not involved in the high-stakes meeting.
Trump and Putin will meet today at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a military base that was crucial to U.S. efforts to counter the then-Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Throughout its history, it has hosted large number of aircraft and oversaw early warning radar sites aimed at detecting any possible nuclear launches and other Soviet activity.
While much of the military hardware has now been deactivated, planes from the base still intercept Russian aircraft that fly into U.S. airspace.
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.Drew Angerer / AFP – Getty Images
Ukraine sunk a vessel yesterday carrying Iranian military supplies to Russia, the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said today.
It said Ukraine “carried out a fire strike on the sea port Olya.”
“According to available information, the vessel ‘Port Olya 4,’ loaded with components for Shahed-type UAVs and ammunition from Iran, was hit,” it posted on Telegram.
“The results of the strike are being clarified,” the statement said.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he spoke to the president of Belarus, a key Putin ally, about the release of political prisoners.
“I had a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko. The purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners,” he wrote.
“We are also discussing the release of 1,300 additional prisoners. Our conversation was a very good one. We discussed many topics, including President Putin’s visit to Alaska. I look forward to meeting President Lukashenko in the future,” Trump added.
Lukashenko is widely considered a dictator and has been reported to have numerous human rights abuses by the State Department and United Nations, among others.
Reporting from Kramatorsk, Ukraine
Ukrainians are expressing concern and skepticism ahead of the talks between Trump and Putin.
The overwhelming sentiment from government officials, soldiers and civilians is that they don’t trust the fact that the pair will be meeting together without Ukrainians in the room.
Train traffic is often an indication of the mood of a place. In Kramatorsk, the government ordered people with children to evacuate amid an ongoing Russian offensive; that doesn’t suggest much faith that Trump and Putin will come to a resolution.
Trump seems to be going back and forth on whether he will be discussing borders and the swapping of territory, and the Ukrainians have some experience with Trump and don’t necessarily trust what he says.
And, of course, they absolutely don’t trust Putin, who massed troops on the border in February 2022 saying it was military exercises before launching his invasion.
Everyone we have spoken to said they don’t think giving up land will bring peace. Instead, they think Putin will offer promises and then come back for more land.
Were land swaps to be agreed to, these are not empty swaths of territory; they could include large population centers, including cities like Mariupol, which could end up falling under an authoritarian Russian regime.
The U.S. and Russian delegations meeting in Alaska will be trying to undo a Gordian knot given the vast negotiating distance between Moscow and Kyiv, according to a former Russian deputy foreign minister who maintains close ties to the Kremlin.
“The biggest problem for Putin is that he cannot accept an immediate ceasefire,” Andrei Fedorov told NBC News. “It’s very hard for Putin to agree on trilateral summit due to the fact that in this case, he must recognize Zelenskyy as a valid president.”
Putin will want to talk most about removing sanctions and increasing trade, Fedorov said, but Trump said today on Air Force One that none of that can happen without a ceasefire.
It’s a catch-22.
But, Fedorov said, don’t be surprised if the Russians try to find ways around the problem.
“One of the possible options could be a temporary ceasefire, one week ceasefire, or something like this, which will be maybe a kind of small political gift for Trump,” Fedorov said, adding that another option might be to cease aerial attacks.
And he said the Kremlin might settle for “an agreement between two presidents that, in the future, government consultations on economic cooperation can start.”
Moscow residents expressed hope and skepticism over the Trump-Putin summit, saying that “there should be a connection between Russia and America,” but adding that it’s unlikely to change the war in Ukraine. One woman said she would “like for all of this to end,” but added that she doesn’t trust the people on the other side.
Putin visited a fish oil plant in the eastern Russian town of Magadan today ahead of his summit with Trump in Alaska.
“The President visited the Omega-Si plant, which processes and refines fish oil with subsequent production of encapsulated products with a high content of omega-3.” the Kremlin posted on Telegram. “This is the first Russian plant producing re-esterified triglycerides from white fish from the Sea of Okhotsk — sardines and herring.”
Magadan is roughly a four-hour flight to Anchorage, where Putin is set to meet with Trump later today.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin looks at a jar of omega-3 pills during a visit to the Omega-Si plant today.Alexei Nikolsky / AFP – Getty Images
The late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s wife has urged Trump and Putin to free political prisoners as part of their summit in Alaska today, to ensure it will “go down in history.”
“Launch a new round of prisoner exchange,” Yulia Navalnaya said in a video message posted on X. “Free Russian political activists and journalists, free Ukrainian civilians, free those in prison for anti war statements and social media posts. After all, you are negotiating to end the war so why should people remain behind bars for the winding exactly the same thing.”
Navalny, 47, died in prison last year, according to the country’s prison service, following a yearslong struggle against official corruption and Putin’s government that included him surviving several poisoning attempts.
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that the two presidents will greet each other on the tarmac in Alaska once Putin lands.
“Then there will be a punctual departure from Magadan to Anchorage due to the fact that exactly at 11 o’clock local time, the President must land and be met at the plane by President Trump,” Peskov said in Russian.
Norway’s government said today it is donating 1 billion crowns ($98.29 million) to Ukraine for the purchase of natural gas ahead of winter.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Anchorage, Trump said that he heard Putin is “bringing a lot of businesspeople” to their summit on the Ukraine war.
“I like that because they want to do business,” Trump added before saying that no business will be conducted until the war concludes.
Currently, the U.S. and Russia do almost no direct business due to extremely strict sanctions levied against the country after it invaded Ukraine. In 2024, just $3 billion worth of goods were imported from Russia, according to Commerce Department data.
But countries such as India and China, as well as the European Union, still do some business with Russia. That primarily involves energy purchases. Trump recently slapped a 50% tariff on India for that reason.
The trade agreement Trump inked with the E.U. calls for $250 billion in U.S. energy purchases a year as the bloc works to phase out its use of Russian energy.
Kremlin pool reporters are staying in makeshift accommodations at the Alaska Airlines Center sports arena due to a lack of available hotel rooms in Anchorage.
Sleeping area for journalists at the Alaska Airlines Center.Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant Photo / Sipa USA via AP
Former Vice President Mike Pence said in a a post on X that he is “Praying for President Trump to Stand Strong in Alaska Today.”
“A Ceasefire followed by a Just and Lasting Peace will only come through American Strength,” he wrote.
Pence has often disagreed with the way Trump characterizes the causes of the war in Ukraine. He wrote on X earlier this year, “Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.”
In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in May, Pence characterized Trump’s views on Ukraine as a “departure” from the foreign policy positions of the first Trump administration. In the same interview, Pence called Trump’s support for Ukraine “wavering.”
Russia will have to back down from its “maximalist goals” if anything is to come out of the summit between Trump and Putin, according to one analyst.
“So far, Putin’s demands amount to an unconditional surrender,” Moritz Brake, a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies, told NBC News on the phone today. “If anything is to come out of this meeting, he would have to have back down to some degree from these.”
Moritz said questions remain over Trump’s willingness “to compromise on guarantees previously given by the United States to the integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” noting that the absence of Ukraine at the Alaska talks marked signs of a return to “19th century power politics, an era where the two great powers negotiate based on their interests and perceptions.”
“That is clearly an alarming signal,” he said, “regardless of what the outcome is.”
People in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk are evacuating for safer areas as Russian troops are closing in even as the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska gets underway. Zelenskyy has warned he thinks Putin doesn’t want peace, but to control Ukraine. NBC’s Richard Engel reports and “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker joins “TODAY” with analysis.
Brian Schwalb, the attorney general for the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington today challenging the Trump administration’s takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department.
The lawsuit challenges Trump’s Monday order, as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi’s order yesterday claiming federal control of the D.C. police force. Schwalb’s office argued that the orders exceed the limits on requesting services from D.C., which it says can only be done on a temporary basis under emergency circumstances.
A National Guard vehicle parked yesterday near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev has agreed with Trump after the president described today’s summit as “HIGH STAKES!!!” in a post on Truth Social.
Posting an image of Trump’s post on X, Dmitriev said “True.”
Kirill Dmitriev in Alaska.@kadmitriev / via X
Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and known for his close ties to the Kremlin, also posted a photo of himself in Alaska standing in front of a U.S. flag.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today, and both leaders agreed to meet again after the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin, the Elysee Palace said.
In an interview with Fox News this morning, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said “It’s really a just peace that I think we’re all looking at.”
Dunleavy, a Republican, added that it’s “a great idea for the president to meet Putin” and that it “makes sense” for the meeting to take place in Alaska given its location.
“In terms of the stakes, obviously, it’s about peace,” Dunleavy said. “If we can get this thing taken care of and wrapped up with President Trump, President Putin and then President Zelenskyy, I think it bodes well for the world.”
“But my understanding is right now it’s just going to be President Trump and Putin talking and meeting and setting the groundwork, I hope, for a lasting peace,” the governor added.
Dunleavy said he has noticed an increase in the amount of menacing behavior from Russia, saying, “I would say, linear, maybe over the last month or so, you see more of that.”
“You have Korea — we’re under the Korean missile umbrella. We also have Chinese warships playing the Bering Straits, right next to the state of Alaska. So it’s always been active to some degree. And of course, we’ve got a robust military here in Alaska. So as far as Alaskans are concerned, we’re not too worried about the Russians or the Chinese but — or the Koreans,” the governor added.
Dunleavy reassured his constituents about the other nations’ activities, telling Fox: “We’ve got a robust military, so we sleep well at night. Again, getting this war behind us, I think, is going to bode well for everybody, but it’s got to be a just peace, and it’s got to work for all parties.”
“We got our fingers crossed. We’ll see how this goes in terms of outcomes. But the world is watching. The world is watching Alaska,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country is “counting on America” ahead of Trump’s summit with Putin in Alaska today.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin on Wednesday.Omer Messinger / Getty Images
“This meeting should open up a real path toward a just peace and a substantive discussion between leaders in a trilateral format — Ukraine, the United States, and the Russian side,” he posted on X.
“It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America.”
Russia will come to the Alaska summit as it makes steady but costly gains on the Ukrainian battlefield. Putin believes he has the momentum in this war, throwing tens of thousands of soldiers each month into his “meat grinder” war machine.
Some Ukraine-supporting military analysts were alarmed this week after it appeared advanced Russian units had punched a hole through Ukraine’s defenses near the town of Dobropillya. Ukrainian reinforcements rushed to the area, launching a counterattack that was able to stabilize the situation, according to Ukrainian military officials and Russian military bloggers. But the fight there and elsewhere remains desperate for Kyiv’s forces.
A family embraces in farewell as residents evacuate Dobropillya city center Tuesday.Pierre Crom / Getty Images
Compounding the situation is an infantry crisis that has seen Ukraine’s once superior troop numbers dwindle, now outnumbered by Russia’s conscription of prison inmates and hiring of mercenaries and soldiers from North Korea. “The entire front has turned into a ‘hodgepodge,’” Bohdan Krotevych, the former head of Ukraine’s Azov Brigade, posted on X last week. “This chaos has been growing for a long time, worsening with each passing day.”
Nevertheless, some Western analysts believe that if Ukraine can hold out into next year, then Russia will begin struggling to resupply its losses of personnel and equipment. Though American aid to Ukraine has stalled under Trump, that gap has been largely plugged by European powers, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute think tank.
Putin’s summit with Trump in Alaska already marks a “victory” for the Russian president before it even begins, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia warned.
“The first concern is that Putin has already achieved victory,” Michael McFaul, who served in the Obama administration, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this morning. “He’s an indicted war criminal. He can’t travel to many countries, almost certainly most democracies. He’s now meeting with the president.”
McFaul added that Trump needed to get something out of the meeting to “make it all worthwhile,” giving “all the power to the other side of the table.”
“Putin is in a very strong position,” he said. “He doesn’t have to agree to anything, and this is still a victory for him.”
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, the president previewed the upcoming Alaska summit, saying about Putin, “There’s a good respect level on both sides, and I think, you know, something’s going to come of it.”
Trump responded to several questions about what the details of a deal to end the war could look like. Answering a question about whether a deal would include territorial swaps between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said, “I’ve got to let Ukraine make that decision.”
Zelenskyy has repeatedly said he is not willing to cede any territory to Russia. European leaders have said that giving Russia land could embolden it to invade other countries.
“Look, Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. If I wasn’t president, he would right now be taking all of Ukraine, but he’s not going to do it,” he added.
Trump also spoke about the possibility of security guarantees for Ukraine, telling reporters that it was a “maybe.”
“Along with Europe and other countries, not in the form of NATO,” he added. “Because that’s not going to, you know, there are certain things that aren’t going to happen. But yeah, along with Europe, there’s possibility” of security guarantees.
Trump is set to welcome Putin in Alaska for the Russian leader’s first visit on United States soil in 10 years. Trump is framing the meeting as a “chess game,” hoping it will lead to another that’ll include Zelenskyy. “All I want to do is set the table for the next meeting,” Trump said. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports for “TODAY.”
Pope Leo XIV prayed today for a peaceful end to the “increasingly deafening violence” of wars around the world as he celebrated a Catholic feast day on the same day as a high-stakes U.S.-Russia summit over the war in Ukraine.
Pope Leo XIV leading the Angelus prayer today, from the entrance of the Palazzo Apostolico, southeast of Rome.Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images
History’s first American pope didn’t mention the meeting in Alaska. But he has constantly called for dialogue and an end to the conflict, including in conversations with Putin and Zelenskyy.
Leo recalled that the Aug. 15 feast day dedicated to the Virgin Mary was declared a dogma by Pope Pius XII at the height of World War II.
“He (Pius) hoped that human lives would never again be destroyed by wars,” Leo said. “How relevant are these words today? Unfortunately, even today, we feel powerless in the face of the spread of increasingly deafening violence, insensitive to any movement of humanity.”
Trump boarded Air Force One ahead of a high-stakes summit with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, where the president says he hopes to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine. NBC News’ Matt Bodner breaks down what to expect from the historic meeting.
Trump has departed Washington on Air Force One and is en route to Alaska, where he’ll meet with Putin for the highly-anticipated summit about ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump did not speak to reporters before boarding the plane. He turned and waved just before entering.
Ahead of his departure, the president wrote in a post on Truth Social, “HIGH STAKES!!!”
Trump boards Air Force One today.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
KHARKIV, Ukraine — Even as his family sobbed into the dirt of his brother’s grave, Ukrainian soldier Artem Reshetilov warned Trump that he should not compromise with Russia during today’s peace talks in Alaska.
His brother, Andrei Reshetilov, 38, was killed by a Russian artillery strike while fighting to defend Ukraine’s front lines. At the funeral on the eve of the talks in Anchorage — to which Ukraine has not been invited — Reshetilov urged Trump not to bend to Putin’s demands of more Ukrainian land.
Andrei Reshetilov’s funeral service on the southern outskirts of Kharkiv.Ted Turner / NBC News
“We don’t have to compromise with the enemy and give up our beloved land because this enemy won’t stop,” said Reshetilov, 46, as hundreds of Ukrainian flags, each marking the grave of a fallen soldier, flapped in the breeze behind him at this cemetery near the major northeastern city of Kharkiv.
He told NBC News he fears Russia could merely use a ceasefire to “return even stronger” and attack Ukraine and even other countries in Europe. These fears are not confined just to Ukrainian hearts, but also shared by governments, experts and people across Europe and beyond who fear what Trump might agree with Putin in a bid to resolve a war he once promised the American people he could fix in 24 hours.
The historical ties between the state of Alaska and Russia date back to 1784 when Russians began to settle the land.
Ironically the Crimean war in Ukraine forced Russia to sell Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million to help offest the country’s a growing debt. Alaska became a U.S. territory in 1867.
But Russian Orthodox churches still dot the landscape and names of places such as Nikolaevsk and Voznesensk speak to their shared history.
Russia has intensified its military activity on the front lines of the war in Ukraine to demonstrate success and leverage discussions with Trump, according to a Ukrainian military analyst.
“Russian generals were ordered to intensify all possible activities to try to break through the front line so Putin can show to Trump that they are successful on front line,” Mykhailo Samus, director of the New Geopolitics Research Network, told NBC News on the phone today.
“It’s a normal Russian tactic, and especially for Putin, to have a successful negotiation,” he added. “He is trying to get a military success, to put it on the table.”
But Samus noted that the short notice of the summit meant Putin’s generals were unable to prepare vast military operations.
“If you’re looking at the territory gains, it’s pretty much the same as in July or June,” he said.
Putin will be joined by five senior Russians officials at the summit in Alaska, offering clues about what’s on the agenda.
Veteran diplomats Yuri Ushakov, a long-serving presidential aide and ambassador to the United States, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has led the ministry for more than 20 years, may help steer discussions on foreign policy.
Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, left, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in 2017.Mikhail Svetlov / Getty Images file
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov point to talks covering the war in Ukraine and potential sanctions relief.
Completing the delegation is Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, known for his close ties to the Kremlin and his role in building relationships with U.S. and international businesses.
As Trump is just hours away from his meeting with Putin, NBC News’ Richard Engel takes a look back on key moments from the 3½-year-long war in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will travel with Trump to Alaska today.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Ambassadors Steve Witkoff and Monica Crowley will also be attending the summit with the president.
A recent family vacation Vice President JD Vance took for his 41st birthday is coming under renewed scrutiny as Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff launches a new probe into a federal request to raise the level of a river to accommodate his kayak trip.
In a letter first shared with NBC News, Schiff, of California, requests information about the move, which he calls “unjustified and frivolous.”
Putin may already feel like a winner when he sits down today in Alaska with Trump.
Putin, who has ruthlessly secured unprecedented power at home, has seen his army finally eke out a slight advantage on the battlefield in Ukraine after years of brutal back-and-forth fighting. Now, invited in from the diplomatic cold, the Russian leader headed to Anchorage full of praise for Trump’s “energetic and sincere efforts” ahead of the talks, which will see him set foot on American soil for the first time in a decade.
Trump has warned there will be “very severe consequences” unless he agrees to stop the war and said yesterday that Putin is “not going to mess around with me.” But for the Russian leader, the one-on-one sit-down with Trump may already feel like a victory.
The U.S. should be arresting Putin, “not legitimizing him and entertaining him,” according to a Marine who was wrongfully detained in Russia for five years.
“There’s no reason that we should trust him, and we shouldn’t legitimize a despotic leader like Vladimir Putin,” Paul Whelan told “Hallie Jackson Now” in an interview yesterday.
Pointing to the arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court in March 2023, Whelan said the Russian leader was “a wanted war criminal” and “our government is treating him like a friend.”
The Alaska summit “was a fool’s errand,” and there was “no reason” to trust Putin, he said. “It’s not going to come to a good end,” he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has paid tribute to the “heroic” North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine in a letter to the secretive communist country’s leader, Kim Jong Un.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, North Korea, in June 2024.Gavriil Grigorov / AFP via Getty Images file
In the letter celebrating the end of Japanese colonial rule and North Korea’s “Liberation Day,” Putin paid tribute to the “bonds of military brotherhood, friendship and mutual assistance,” between the two nations.
“This was fully confirmed by the heroic participation of Korean servicemen in the liberation of the territories of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian invaders,” he said. “The Russian people will forever preserve the memory of their courage and selflessness.”
North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last fall and also supplied large quantities of military equipment, according to South Korean intelligence assessments.
Reporting from Kharkiv, Ukraine
After more than three years of war, Ukrainians are skeptical there will be a breakthrough to end it at the meeting between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
NBC News’ Richard Engel spoke to a family grieving a fallen Ukrainian soldier and visited a drone command center hidden in a garage.
The Ukraine must be involved in decisions determining its own future after today’s Trump-Putin summit, British Defense Secretary John Healey said today.
“The Ukrainians are the ones who are fighting, with huge courage — military and civilians alike. It’s for President Zelensky and the Ukrainians to determine the end to the fighting and the terms on which that takes place,” he told BBC radio’s “Today.”
Sidelined from the Trump-Putin tete-a-tete, a joint statement by European Union leaders last week welcomed Trump’s efforts “towards ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” but stressed that “a path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy said last week that any decisions taken without Ukraine were “decisions against peace,” adding, “They will not achieve anything.”
A presenter on Russian state media show SolovyovLive has published a bizarre video apparently calling for the Russia-U.S. friendship.
In the video, a woman wearing a dress in Russian state colors can be seen waltzing with a young man wearing a suit in U.S. state colors. As they dance, images of Putin and Trump float in the background.
The video was shared on the telegram channel of Sergey Karnaukhov with a caption saying Russia and the United States “have enormous potential for developing constructive relations and rapprochement.”
Russian drone strikes killed seven civilians and injured 17 more across multiple Ukrainian regions last night into today, officials in the country said.
The Russian army launched two missiles and 81 air strikes in the past 24 hours, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said this morning.
Ukrainian servicemen and residents observe houses burning amid a Russian airstrike yesterday, in Sloviansk, Ukraine.Pierre Crom / Getty Images
An aerial view of a blaze in a residential area, following a powerful explosion yesterday, in Sloviansk, Ukraine. Kostiantyn Liberov / Getty Images
A resident walks through his neighborhood in Sloviansk, Ukraine, today, destroyed by Russian forces yesterday.Pierre Crom / Getty Images
It said Ukraine had struck multiple Russian military targets, and that losses in the Russian army “amounted to 940 people.”
Ukrainian strikes injured 12 in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions last night into today, officials in the country said.
Flames rise from a burning car in a street, after a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Belgorod, Russia, on Thursday.via AP
The aftermath of a drone attack in Kursk, Russia, on Friday.Alexander Protasov / AP
Kursk Gov. Alexander Khinstein said Ukraine targeted a multistory residential building in the Zheleznodorozhny district and that some residents were transferred to temporary accommodation shelters.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had intercepted 55 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions.
The choice of Alaska for talks between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is being seen as symbolic by some Russian commentators, who are framing it as a nod to historic ties and a chance for closer relations in future.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not been invited to the summit about the war in his homeland and representatives from Europe have also been excluded, fueling Kyiv’s worst fears that its future might be decided without its input.
But Moscow’s media and political elite have praised the choice of venue — a territory the United States purchased from the then-Russian Empire 158 years ago — framing it as a reminder that the U.S. and Russia are geographically close to one another and suggesting it could strengthen relations between the two nations.’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia’s “position is clear” as he arrived in Alaska wearing a pullover with “USSR” written on it, a reference to the former Soviet Union, dissolved in 1991.
“We never try to anticipate the outcome or make any guesses,” Lavrov told Russian media in video published this morning, after he was told Trump said there was a 25% chance that talks would not be successful.
“Much has been accomplished already during the visits by the US President’s Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff,” he said. “I hope that we will be able to continue this productive conversation tomorrow,” said Lavrov.
Britain’s King Charles called for “international cooperation” today as part of commemorations marking VJ Day — the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia.
Britain’s King Charles records a VJ Day message in London.Aaron Chown / POOL/AFP via Getty Images
“War’s true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life — a tragedy all-too vividly demonstrated by conflicts around the world today,” he said in an audio recording.
“Countries and communities that had never before fought together learned to coordinate their efforts across vast distances, faiths and cultural divides,” he added. “Together they proved that, in times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear, but the arms you link.”
Charles welcomed Zelenskyy to Windsor Castle for an audience in July, and has shown support for Ukraine since the war began.
Reporting from WASHINGTON
The president lowered expectations for a breakthrough in what will be the Russian leader’s first steps on U.S. soil in a decade.
On the eve of Trump and Putin’s summit at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaskans gathered in Anchorage to voice their support for Ukraine.
Drew Angerer / AFP via Getty Images
Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Drew Angerer / AFP via Getty Images
Trump is expected to roll out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin’s arrival at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson today, according to two senior administration officials, and is planning to greet the Russian leader when he arrives.
Officials stressed the exact details and stagecraft of the meeting’s movements are being finalized.
As of last night, Trump is not expected to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or European leaders before today’s meeting, according to a third senior administration official. It’s unclear, however, whether that could change during his seven-hour flight from Washington to Anchorage, Alaska.
As Trump prepares to meet Putin in Alaska today, a new survey finds that a majority of Americans are not confident that Trump can make wise decisions about the war in Ukraine.
The Pew Research Center survey showed that 59% of Americans said they lacked confidence in the president’s decision-making on Russia, while 40% say they are confident he can make wise decisions on the conflict that started in 2022.
According to the survey, 33% of respondents said Trump is favoring Russia too much, and 6% said he is favoring Ukraine too much. As many as 28% said Trump is striking about the right balance, while 32% are not sure.
Americans remain divided over whether the United States has a responsibility to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s invasion: 50% said the U.S. does have a responsibility and 47% said it does not, according to the survey.
The share of Republicans who say America has that responsibility has increased 12 percentage points since March, to 35% from 23%. Among Democrats, 66% said the U.S. has a duty to aid Ukraine.
The survey was conducted Aug. 4-10 among 3,554 adults.
