After months of unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine war, President Donald Trump faces a pivotal moment as he meets face-to-face with Vladimir Putin to prod the Russian president on a peace deal.

Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 and has been reluctant to halt the bloody conflict, frustrating Trump, who has lashed out and threatened economic penalties. The Aug. 15 summit is a test of whether Trump can make progress on a deal that is acceptable to both Ukraine and Russia.

The two leaders are meeting at a U.S. military base in Alaska. Not invited: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke with Trump twice this week and has rejected the idea of territorial concessions to end the war.

Trump and the White House have been downplaying expectations for the meeting, with the president saying Aug. 14 that the "more important meeting" will be one that includes both Zelenskyy and Putin. That will come next, he said.

“We're going to see what happens," Trump said Aug. 14. "And I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelensky will make peace. We'll see if they can get along, and if they can, it'll be great."

Trump speaks with Belarus leader before Russia summit

President Donald Trump said before his Russia summit that he called Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to thank him for releasing 16 prisoners and to discuss the release of 1,300 more prisoners.“Our conversation was a very good one,” Trump said in a post on social media Aug. 15. “We discussed many topics, including President Putin’s visit to Alaska.”Lukashenko is accused of holding hundreds of political prisoners in Belarus, which the government denies.Trump added that he hoped to meet with Lukashenko “in the future.”--Bart Jansen

Trump says there's a “possibility” of US providing security guarantees to Ukraine

Asked if there was a possibility of the U.S. providing security guarantees to Ukraine, Trump first sought to banish the idea of a NATO membership for the country.

“Not in the form of NATO,” he said. “There are certain things that aren't going to happen.”

Aside from that, security guarantees could be on the table, he said.

“Along with Europe, there's possibility,” he said.

--Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Summit ‘has risks for everybody’: Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan

GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan called the summit in his home state of Alaska “really preliminary” but a chance for Trump to get a sense of whether Putin is ready for a ceasefire with Ukraine before tackling more complex issues such as territorial issues and security guarantees.“Negotiating peace is very complex, very difficult,” Sullivan told CBS’s “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” in an interview Aug. 14 that will air Aug. 17. “Even this kind of high-level diplomacy has risks for everybody, including the president and his team.”

“I would call it, you know, an exercise in place-setting for the real negotiations,” Sullivan added.--Bart Jansen

Trump says it may be Putin’s “genes” that’s responsible for continued attacks on Ukraine

Asked for his view on Russian attacks on Ukraine on the eve of their summit which killed at least seven civilians, Trump said it might be them setting the stage for negotiations.

“In his mind that helps to make a better deal. It actually hurts him,” Trump told reporters while flying to Alaksa. “In his mind, that helps him make a better deal if they could continue the killing.”

Trump went on to analize Putin and the “part of the world” he belonged to.

“Maybe it's just his fabric, his genes, his genetics,” he said. But he thinks that makes him, giveshim strength in negotiating. I think it hurts him, but I'll be talking to him about it.”

--Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Trump calls Putin "a smart guy" on his way to Alaska for their meeting

Asked about what would be different in a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Putin, President Trump reflected on his impressions of the Russian leader and their relationship during an interview with reporters on Air Force One on his way to Alaska.

“Look, he's a smart guy,” said Trump. “We get along. It's a good respect level on both sides. And I think, you know, something's going to come of it.”

Trump said he’d noticed that Putin was bringing “a lot of business people from Russia.”

“That's good. I like that,” he said. “Because they want to do business, but they're not doing business until we get the war out.”

--Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

POTUS on his way to meeting with Putin

President Donald Trump departed the White House around 7:30 a.m. on Aug 15 en route to his highly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He had one message for those watching: “HIGH STAKES,” he wrote in a Truth Social post earlier in the morning.

Traveling along with him is a 16-member entourage consisting of cabinet secretaries, communications staff and aides. They include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scot Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, CIA Director John Ratcliff and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

—Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Secondary tariff on India ‘probably’ played a part in Putin-Trump summit

On the eve of his trip to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump said the secondary tariffs against India for purchasing oil from Russia "probably" played a part in Putin wanting to meet with him.

On July 28, Trump gave an ultimatum to Russia: declare a ceasefire in Ukraine within 10–12 days or face sanctions.

Instead, on Aug. 8, the day the deadline was supposed to expire, Trump announced that he was meeting Putin on Aug. 15.

Meanwhile, also Trump announced that a 25% secondary tariff on India would go into effect later in the month for buying oil from Russia, in addition to the country-specific 25% tariff.

During an interview with Brian Kilmeade of Fox News on Aug. 14, Trump was asked if the 10-day deadline had played a role in Moscow trying to schedule the meeting.

“Everything has an impact," said Trump, before adding that the secondary tariffs on India took the country "out of buying oil from Russia."

"Certainly, when you lose your second largest customer and you're probably going to lose your first largest customer, I think that probably has a role," he said of Russia’s incentive to meet.

--Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

It was sold in 1867, but some Russians want Alaska back from the US

Way back in 1991, as the once-mighty Soviet Union disintegrated and Westerners cheered, Vladimir Putin’s favorite rock and roll band released “Don’t Fool Around, America,” a patriotic hit about an even older lost cause – Russia’s 1867 sale of Alaska to the United States.

This bouncy, accordion-driven single ignored the disorienting collapse of the Soviet dictatorship and instead pointed listeners east, 2.4 miles across the Bering Strait, to the 49th U.S. state, demanding:

“Give us our dear Alaska back/Give us our dear native land.”

Now the song, by rabble-rousing rockers Lyuba (the Loud Ones), has taken on new significance as President Donald Trump hosts Putin at an Alaskan military base – and conspiracy theories resurface claiming Uncle Sam swindled Mother Russia out of the 665,000-square-mile Arctic jewel.

Read more on Russian seller's regret, from USA TODAY.

-Dan Morrison

What time is it in Alaska now? What time does the meeting start?

Alaska is currently four hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

The meeting between Trump and Putin is scheduled to begin around 11 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time, according to the White House, which means it will begin around 3 p.m. ET.

-- Gabe Hauari

A Trump-Putin reunion

Trump and Putin will meet in Anchorage, Alaska, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, home to about 30,000 service members, their families and civilian employees.

Alaska was once part of Russia – the U.S. bought it for $7.2 million in 1867 − and is separated by the Bering Strait from the Russian mainland by just 55 miles at the narrowest point.

Trump met with Putin multiple times during his first term, including in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018. Putin denied interfering in the 2016 election, comments that Trump embraced, saying Putin “was extremely strong and powerful in his denial" despite U.S. intelligence assessments pointing to interference by Moscow on Trump's behalf.

-Zac Anderson

Trump’s relationship with Putin in the spotlight

Trump has had a famously warm relationship with Putin over the years, often praising the Russian autocrat. Trump reportedly shared classified intelligence with Russian officials during his first term and tried to soften U.S. opposition to Russia's past aggression against Ukraine and its human rights violations.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and Zelenskyy featured in one of the lowest points of Trump's first term. He was impeached over allegations that he pressured Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on political rival Joe Biden.

Trump's friendly approach to Putin has largely continued as he worked to get a peace deal and focused his ire on Zelenskyy, most notably during an explosive Oval Office meeting when the two clashed publicly. Trump told the Ukrainian leader he didn’t “have the cards” when it came to resolving the conflict in the country’s favor.

Lately, though, Trump has repeatedly slammed Putin and complained about his unwillingness to stop the fighting.

Putin escalated his attacks on Ukraine ahead of the summit, which former GOP House speaker and Trump ally Newt Gingrich called “a sign of very bad faith.” Trump said Aug. 13 that there would be “very severe consequences” if Putin does not agree to end the war.

-Zac Anderson

Jockeying over territorial concessions

Trump is trying to push Moscow into an accord that Kyiv and its allies fear will include the loss of significant territory seized by Russia in its 3-year-old war.

Speculating about an eventual deal on Aug. 8, Trump said it would involve “some swapping of territories."

That drew a sharp response from Zelenskyy, who said, “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.”

But Trump has continued to push, saying on Aug. 11 that he was a “little bothered” by the Ukrainian leader’s assertion that a land swap would violate the country’s constitution.

"There will be some swapping,” Trump insisted Aug. 11. “There will be some changes in land.”

The debate over territorial concessions hangs over the summit. Putin claims four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014.

-Zac Anderson, Francesca Chambers, Lauren Villagran

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Live updates: Putin and Trump to meet in Alaska on Ukraine peace talks

Reporting by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Zac Anderson, Dan Morrison, Gabe Hauari and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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