The China Mail - Trump says to meet Putin next Friday in Alaska

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.

Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.

"The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska," Trump said on his Truth Social site.

He said earlier at the White House that "there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.

The Kremlin did not immediately confirm the date or location for the talks.

Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.

Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.

He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal.

At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance -- calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support.

The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.

Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.

- Witkoff visit -

The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had updated Chinese President Xi Jinping on "the main results of his conversation" with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow earlier this week.

Xi expressed support for a "long-term" solution to the conflict, the Kremlin said.

China's Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as having told Putin: "China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis."

Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, economic and military ties since the start of Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

Putin also spoke by phone to India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after both countries condemned new US tariffs over New Delhi's oil purchases from Russia.

Xi and Modi have both tried to tout their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though they have gained little traction.

Putin, a former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a "final phase" of negotiations on ending the conflict.

In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said "it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations."

Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said Friday that families with children would be evacuated from 19 more villages in the region's east, where Russian forces have been advancing.

The villages, home to hundreds of people, are all within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the front line.

N.Wan--ThChM