Next Friday’s meeting in Alaska promises to be a critical moment in Donald Trump’s second term.

After months of promises and false hope, the White House is offering renewed optimism that the war in Ukraine can be brought to a close.

Despite frequent phone calls between the two men, sometimes lasting hours, this will be the first time Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump have met face-to-face since 2018 .

Trump has already suggested a compromise on land might be on the table, saying any deal could include "some swapping of territories," but Russia has long claimed it would only accept Ukraine's handing over of all four Oblasts or provinces in the east.

It already controls mostly two of them, Donetsk and Luhansk, in the Donbas. But Putin only has a partial grip on the other two

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