Donald Trump leaves for Alaska for meeting with Putin, calls it ‘high-stakes'

US President Donald Trump is meeting face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday for a high-stakes summit that could determine not only the trajectory of the war in Ukraine but also the fate of European security.

The sit-down offers Trump a chance to prove to the world that he is both a master dealmaker and a global peacemaker. He and his allies have cast him as a heavyweight negotiator who can find a way to bring the slaughter to a close, something he used to boast he could do quickly.

For Putin, a summit with Trump offers a long-sought opportunity to try to negotiate a deal that would cement Russia's gains, block Kyiv's bid to join the NATO military alliance and eventually pull Ukraine back into Moscow's orbit.

There are significant risks for Trump. By bringing Putin onto US soil, the president is giving Russia's leader the validation he desires after his ostracisation following his invasion of Ukraine three years ago. The exclusion of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from the summit also deals a heavy blow to the West's policy of “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” and invites the possibility that Trump could agree to a deal that Ukraine does not want.

Any success is far from assured, especially as Russia and Ukraine remain far apart in their demands for peace. Putin has long resisted any temporary ceasefire, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies and a freeze on Ukraine's mobilisation efforts, which were conditions rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies.

"HIGH STAKES!!!" Trump posted on Truth Social as his motorcade idled outside the White House shortly after sunrise in Washington. An hour later, he waved as he boarded Air Force One but did not speak to reporters.

Trump on Thursday said there was a 25 per cent chance that the summit would fail, but he also floated the idea that if the meeting succeeds he could bring Zelenskyy to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting, a possibility that Russia hasn't agreed to.

When asked in Anchorage about Trump's estimate of a 25 per cent chance of failure, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that Russia “never plans ahead”. "We know that we have arguments, a clear, understandable position. We will state it,” he said in footage posted to the Russian Foreign Ministry's Telegram channel.