What we know about the possible meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will hold a face-to-face meeting in Alaska next Friday in an attempt to end the war in Ukraine that erupted after Russia's invasion in February 2022.

Trump has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace, having boasted of being able to end the war in 24 hours, but after multiple rounds of talks, phone calls, and diplomatic visits, he has made no progress.

Here's what we know so far about the meeting:

When and where

Trump announced on his Truth Social network that the meeting with Putin will take place on August 15 in the state of Alaska, in the far north of the United States, something the Kremlin later confirmed.

The announcement came days after both sides indicated that the two leaders would hold a summit next week.

"They want to meet with me, and I will do everything in my power to stop the killing," Trump said Thursday, referring to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky .

On Friday, the US president stated from the White House that "there will be some exchange of territories for the benefit of both parties," without giving further details.

Why Alaska?

The meeting will be held in Alaska, a state that Russia sold to the United States in 1867.

The western tip of the state is located near the eastern tip of Russia, across the Bering Strait.

"Alaska and the Arctic are also meeting points for our countries' economic interests, and there are prospects for large-scale, mutually beneficial projects," Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said in a Telegram statement.

"But, of course, the presidents will undoubtedly focus on discussing options for achieving a peaceful, long-term solution to the Ukrainian crisis," he added.

Ushakov also expressed his hope that the two presidents would meet on Russian soil next time.

"The corresponding invitation has already been sent to the US president," he added.

The International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrant for Putin, which mandates the Russian leader's detention if he visits member states, was expected to narrow the list of possible venues.

Putin had previously mentioned the United Arab Emirates as a possible host for the talks, while media outlets speculated about Turkey, China, and India as venue options.

Will Zelensky be present?

For Zelensky, meeting with Putin is a "priority" and maintains that it is "legitimate for Ukraine to participate in the negotiations" in a tripartite format.

But the Russian president refuses to meet with Zelensky. For Putin, a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart would only make sense in the final phase of the peace negotiations.

As for Trump, his response was blunt. Asked whether he thought Putin should meet with Zelensky first before meeting with him, the US president replied "no."

Zelensky spoke by phone with Trump on Thursday, in a conversation that also included several European leaders.

The Ukrainian president called for Europeans to be included in the peace negotiations.

The background

The last meeting between Trump and Putin took place in June 2019 at a G20 summit in Japan, during the Republican president's first term.

In 2018, Putin held a meeting in Helsinki with Trump, who surprised everyone by appearing alongside the Russian leader following US intelligence findings that Russia had interfered in the US elections to support the Republican tycoon.

The last time Putin met with a US president in the United States was with Barack Obama at the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.

Irreconcilable positions

Between Russia and Ukraine , the positions remain diametrically opposed. The last round of direct negotiations held in Istanbul in July only resulted in a new exchange of prisoners and the remains of dead soldiers.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to carry out deadly attacks against Ukraine and advances on the front lines every day.

Moscow is demanding that Ukraine cede four partially occupied regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson) as well as Crimea, annexed in 2014, and that it renounce Western arms deliveries and its ambition to join NATO .

But these demands are unacceptable to kyiv. Ukraine wants Russia to withdraw its troops from its territory and demands Western security guarantees, including continued arms supplies and the deployment of a European contingent, which Russia opposes.

Ukraine, along with its European allies, is also calling for a 30-day ceasefire, which the Russians are refusing.