Vladimir Putin is no stranger to superpower summits. Over the decades, as president or prime minister, he's held high-stakes meetings with five American presidents. His encounter with Donald Trump on Friday in Alaska will be the first of Trump's second term and maybe the most significant since their controversial 2018 meeting in Helsinki, Finland. This time, war and peace are urgently at stake as Trump has made it a priority to end the war in Ukraine. Trump's Aug. 8 deadline for Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face severe sanctions has come and gone without any peace deal. The expected one-on-one meeting in Alaska marks Putin's first trip to the U.S. since 2015 and his eighth overall as president -- a post the former KGB officer has held since late 1999, apart from 2008-2012

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