President Trump hosts his Russian counterpart in Alaska today.
I am president, and he's not going to mess around with me.
But can Trump convince Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine fairly?
I'm Michelle Martin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.
Putin was once an international pariah because of Russia's war in Ukraine, but now he's being hosted at a high stakes peace summit on U.S. soil.
How much of an opportunity for diplomatic and economic cooperation with the U.S. does the summit provide?
And Russia has pushed back against including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in peace talks until Moscow and Washington first. clinch a deal, what concessions might Ukraine be forced to make?
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President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet today in Anchorage, Alaska for a high-stakes summit aimed at ending Russia's war with Ukraine. at least that's Trump's stated goal.
And 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.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited.
That meeting Trump says could come next.
All I want to do is set the table for the next meeting, which should happen shortly.
I'd like to see it happen very quickly, very shortly after this meeting.
NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith is in Anchorage.
Tam, what's expected for this big summit?
This will all take place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on the outskirts of Anchorage.
The meeting is set to start at 11 a.m. local time out here.
Trump and Putin will first meet one-on-one with just the two leaders and their translators.
Trump has said he will be feeling out Putin and whether he's serious about ending the war after numerous phone calls over the past six months that really haven't moved the needle.
Next, they'll be joined by their advisors for a working lunch.
And yesterday, the White House said that Trump and Putin will hold a joint press conference.
Really? Okay. So I remember their last joint press conference, that was what, in Helsinki, Finland, 2018, I believe, right?
I remember it was widely viewed as a bit of an embarrassment for the U.S. at the time. time.
Yeah, that summit took place as a special counsel was investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
That investigation is something that Trump is still raging about.
He calls it the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.
So during that joint press conference, Putin denied any election interference.
And Trump appeared to take Putin's side over that of the US intelligence community.
Trump faced incredible backlash at home among Republicans and Democrats alike and eventually walked back some of what he said.
But now, seven years later. Trump says that summit was a success and he is positioning himself as uniquely able to handle In my opinion, he would much rather take off, take over all of Ukraine.
But I am president and he's not going to mess around with me.
In 2018 when Trump met with Putin, the domestic political stakes for Trump were quite high.
But Trump was focused on terrorism and nuclear nonproliferation.
Looking back, those were much simpler times.
Now Putin is... Four years into the latest chapter of this war and is testing U.S. and European resolve.
Oh, for those simpler times, Tam. All right.
So what does success look like from this meeting today?
Trump has been all over the map in terms of his expectations for the meeting.
He's talked about the need to divvy up territory.
That's something that Ukraine's president has opposed Trump hasn't really been precise in what he wants to see today.
And there are concerns that Trump could be wooed by happy talk from Putin about economic cooperation or something else that Trump can call a win.
But Trump has been growing in increasingly frustrated with Putin for saying he wants peace while continuing to bomb civilians in Ukraine.
He said there could be consequences for Russia if something meaningful doesn't happen here today. and a reminder that he has allowed the sale of powerful weapon systems to NATO to help Ukraine. and has threatened to punish countries like India for buying Russian oil.
Now this meeting leaves an open question of what comes next as Russia makes gains on the battlefield.
That's NPR's Tamara Keith in Anchorage. Tamara, thanks.
You're welcome. look at how talks are being perceived in Moscow and from Kyiv, Ukrainians are concerned that not being included in the summit will force the country to make concessions.
And although Russian President Vladimir Putin was once an international pariah because of the war, the Kremlin is portraying the summit as an opportunity for economic cooperation with the U.S.
We'll be talking to our reporters who are covering this event, starting with Charles Maines, who joins us now on the line from Moscow.
Charles, all right, what's the latest from Russia?
Yeah, good morning. You know, Vladimir Putin is on his way to Alaska.
He's currently out in Russia's Far East in Magadan.
The Kremlin says he'll visit a memorial that pays tribute to US-Soviet cooperation during World War II before the summit.
No doubt tapping into symbolism from the past.
And time is something to pay attention to today due to a quirk of the international date line.
In other words, to time zones. It's already Friday evening in Russia's Far East, but when Putin leaves Russia and heads across the Bering Strait and into the U.S., it will be Friday morning in Alaska.
So a bit of time travel, a nice trick if you can pull it off.
Yes, it does. Now, let's turn to the summit itself.
What do we know about Vladimir Putin's approach to the talks?
Well, you know, keep in mind that just a week ago Putin faced this Trump ultimatum to stop the war by August 8th or face massive new sanctions and tariffs on Russian energy exports.
Well, fast forward, he's about to have a summit meeting with an American president and on US soil, no less.
Now, before Putin left Moscow, He convened his key advisors to discuss the summit, and he had this message for Trump as well.
So here Putin says he's grateful to Trump and his administration for their energetic and sincere efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine.
And he suggested that the Alaska talks might also focus on strategic security.
In other words, nuclear arms control. And what should we make of that?
Progress on arms control is a good thing, particularly given the looming end of the New START treaty.
This is the last major arms control deal between the U.S. and Russia, which expires in early 2026.
But this gesture came after after Trump resurfaced economic threats on Russia if this Alaska summit doesn't make progress on Ukraine.
So it seems to be Russia tempting Trump with agreements beyond the Ukraine issue.
A nuclear deal would seem to appeal to Trump's desire to be seen as a global peacemaker, and for Russia, You know, it certainly gives the Alaska summit a Cold War tableau, the superpowers back at the negotiating table for nuclear issues.
Again, Putin traveling back in time. Now, are there any other areas where we might see deals getting made?
Well, the Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov says this huge untapped potential of U.S.-Russian economic cooperation is also on the docket.
So Russia clearly appealing to the businessman in Trump.
Russian officials have suggested that might include mineral deals, in particular joint investments in the Arctic.
We'll have to see, but it would make sense to have some agreed upon deliverables, given the more unpredictable nature of the Ukraine issue.
So speaking of Ukraine, let's go back to Ukraine for a second.
Any reason to think progress can be made?
Well, no one thinks this war will end tomorrow.
That said, Moscow may not want Trump to leave entirely empty-handed from Anchorage.
One area where we may see some dealmaking is a partial ceasefire on air attacks.
This would allow Trump to legitimately say, look, this saves lives from Russian bombs, which it would.
But it would also neutralize a key aspect of Ukraine's ability to punch back, namely with drones that can attack deep inside Russia, which, again, they did this morning.
All right. That's NPR's Charles Maines in Moscow.
Thank you very much, Charles. Thank you.
Let's get the view from Ukraine now. We'll go to Greg Myrie for this.
He's in the capital of Kyiv. Greg, good morning.
Hi, Michelle. So you've been talking to Ukrainians about the summit.
What are they telling you? Well, you can really boil it down to two basic responses.
Response number one is that nothing substantive will come out of this summit.
They think Putin is still fully committed to the war and won't agree to a real ceasefire, let alone an end to the conflict.
So they expect the fighting to continue.
Ukrainians who think this way include Olena Humeynuk.
She's 46 and works in construction. I spoke with her in central Kyiv.
So she's saying that she thinks it's another waste of time that will produce no results.
And then she goes on to say she thinks negotiations are possible, but they have to include Ukraine.
And I'll just add, Michelle, Russia fired nearly 100 drones at Ukraine overnight.
Six civilians were killed, more than a dozen injured, according to Ukrainian officials.
Okay, so a lot of people you spoke with don't think this will go anywhere.
What else are you hearing? there are some Ukrainians who fear that Putin and Trump might reach some sort of arrangement.
And then Ukraine will face pressure to accept it, even though Ukraine isn't present at the talks.
Ukrainians don't know exactly what that might be.
This summit has been cobbled together very quickly.
The leaders aren't working off a clear and specific agenda.
Trump says he just wants to hear Putin out and then decide what to do next.
So the concern is Putin will make some very limited proposal up partial temporary ceasefire.
Our colleague Charles Maines just described one possibility.
That might sound like a nice gesture, but wouldn't address the core issues that could end the war.
Have Ukrainians been able to do anything to prepare for this kind of outcome?
So, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been in Europe rallying support for Ukraine.
European leaders are staunchly backing Zelensky, saying no deals can be reached without Ukraine's full participation.
Zelensky and the Europeans have been talking to Trump by phone in the past week or so.
So they've been able to make their case, and they've tried to warn him against what Putin might try to do.
Also, Trump says he would like to see a follow-up meeting that would include Zelensky, so whatever comes out of Alaska...
Ukraine hopes it will have a chance to lobby afterwards before any decisions might get made.
Greg, before we let you go, Russia launched its full-scale invasion three and a half years ago.
Are you seeing any change in opinion in Ukraine as this war drags on?
Yeah, Michelle, we've seen two interesting polls this month.
A Gallup poll asked Ukrainians if they now favored and negotiated into the war.
Right around 70 percent said yes, they would.
But a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology asked Ukrainians if they would accept giving up territory that Russia now holds.
76% said, no, this is not acceptable. And, Michelle, this may sound contradictory, but it does make sense when you speak to Ukrainians.
They tell you they are exhausted by the war, and the longer it goes on, the more willing they are to negotiate and perhaps make concessions.
But most have not reached the point where they're ready to give up the roughly 20 percent of their territory that Russia controls.
That is NPR's Greg Myrie in Kiev, Ukraine's capital.
Greg, thank you. Sure thing, Michelle. And that's Up First for Friday, August 15th.
I'm E. Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin.
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