As US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska on Friday, a question looms: what would it take for the two to arrive at a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deal at the hastily arranged—albeit highly anticipated—meeting?
Organised at Putin's request, this will be the first time since 2007 that a Russian president visits a US counterpart on American soil.
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The White House has said that the high-stakes bilateral meeting will take place between the two at 11 AM local time (12:30 AM IST on Saturday) at the Cold War-era Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, as per a Reuters report.
.@POTUS: "We're going to have a meeting with Vladimir Putin and ... probably in the first two minutes, I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made."
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 11, 2025
REPORTER: "How will you know that?"@POTUS: "Because that's what I do — I make deals." pic.twitter.com/KfLNkWaiHq
Russia's demands from the meeting are more or less similar to what they have already been: Ukraine's disarmament and distancing from NATO, a relaxation of Western sanctions, and swapping certain territories.
However, a newer addition to Moscow's agenda—improving Russia-US economic ties—has led to Ukraine (which was strategically excluded from the meeting) and the West fearing a ceasefire being brought on by trade that would disadvantage Kyiv.
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“An exchange of views is expected on further developing bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic sphere,” Ushakov said, as per a Guardian report. “This cooperation has huge and, unfortunately so far, untapped potential,” explained Yuri Ushakov, one of Putin's advisors.
“Putin knows Trump sees the world through a business lens, and will pitch a peace on his terms as the gateway to lucrative opportunities,” an unnamed former official added, as per the report.
The US president's motives, however, remain unclear, as he continues to shift the optics of the Alaska meeting.
Trump, who entered his second term in office with a promise to end the three-year-long Russia-Ukraine conflict in a few days, has so far been unable to exert pressure on Moscow to stop the aggression on Kyiv.
Prizing himself as a peacemaker above all else, he first called the meeting an important one in which the ceasefire would be decided, before refining his expectations and calling it a “feel-type” meeting to understand Putin's demands, and to gauge the possibility of a future trilateral meeting involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
However, he switched up his tone again on Wednesday, warning Russia of "severe consequences" should the talks fail. This follows his 100 per cent tariff deadline issued to Moscow to end the war, which fell through after the deadline expired and no punitive actions were taken by the US.
All eyes are on the bilateral meeting—especially Ukraine, the West, and nations like India that buy Russian exports—as the future of not only the war, but also wider geopolitical relations and global energy supply chains, is at stake.
“Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon tomorrow (Friday) because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure),” a source close to the Kremlin told Reuters.
