What do Putin and Trump each want from the Alaska summit?

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Friday’s summit in the US state of Alaska with contrasting priorities as they prepare for talks on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Putin has been consistent on his desire to win Ukrainian territory, while Trump has made no secret of his desire to act as a global peacemaker.

But both men may also sense other opportunities, such as diplomatic rehabilitation on the world stage on the part of Putin. Second-guessing Trump’s aims is harder, as he has recently made vacillating statements about his Russian counterpart.

Here’s a fuller look at what the two leaders might want from the meeting.

By Russia editor Steve Rosenberg

The first thing Putin wants from this summit is something he’s already been given.

And that’s recognition.

Recognition from the world’s most powerful country, America, that Western efforts to isolate the Kremlin leader have failed.

The fact that this high-level meeting is happening is testament to that, as is the joint press conference that the Kremlin has announced. The Kremlin can argue that Russia is back at the top table of global politics.

“So much for being isolated,” crowed the tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets earlier this week.

Not only has Putin secured a US-Russia summit, but a prime location for it. Alaska has much to offer the Kremlin.

First, security. At its closest point, mainland Alaska is just 90km (55 miles) from Russia’s Chukotka. Vladimir Putin can get there without flying over “hostile” nations.

Second, it’s a long way – a very long way – from Ukraine and Europe. That sits well with the Kremlin’s determination to sideline Kyiv and EU leaders, and deal directly with America.

There’s historical symbolism, too. The fact that Tsarist Russia sold Alaska to America in the 19th Century is being used by Moscow to justify its attempt to change borders by force in the 21st Century.

“Alaska is a clear example that state borders can change, and that large territories can switch ownership,” wrote Moskovsky Komsomolets.

But Putin wants more than just international recognition and symbols.

He wants victory. He’s been insisting that Russia keep all the land it has seized and occupied in four Ukrainian regions (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson) and that Kyiv withdraw from the parts of those regions still under Ukrainian control.

For Ukraine this is unacceptable. “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,” says the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Kremlin knows that. But if it secures Trump’s support for its territorial demands, the calculation may be that rejection by Ukraine would result in Trump cutting all support for Kyiv. Meanwhile, Russia and the US would get on with boosting relations and developing economic cooperation.

But there is another scenario.

Russia’s economy is under pressure. The budget deficit is rising, income from oil and gas exports falling.

If economic problems are pushing Putin to end the war, the Kremlin may compromise.

For now, there’s no sign of that – with Russian officials continuing to insist that Russia holds the initiative on the battlefield.

By North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher

Trump famously promised during his 2024 presidential campaign that ending the Ukraine war would be easy and that he could do it in a matter of days.

That promise has hung over the American president’s efforts to resolve the conflict, as he has alternated between frustration with the Ukrainians and the Russians since returning to the White House in January.

He harangued Zelensky at a dramatic White House meeting in February, and later temporarily suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with the war-torn nation.

In recent months, he’s been more critical of Putin’s intransigence and willingness to attack civilian targets, setting a series of deadlines for new sanctions on the Russians and other nations that do business with them. Last Friday was the most recent deadline, and as with all the ones before it, Trump ultimately backed away.

Now he’s hosting the Russian president on American soil and talking about “land-swapping”, which Ukraine fears may consist of land concessions in exchange for peace.

So, any discussion about what Trump wants during his Friday talks with Putin is muddied by the president’s vacillating statements and actions.

This week, Trump has made a concerted effort to lower the expectations for this meeting – perhaps a tacit acknowledgement of the limited possibilities of a breakthrough with only one party in the war present.

On Monday, he said the summit would be a “feel-out” meeting. He suggested that he would know if he could reach a deal with the Russian leader “probably in the first two minutes”.

“I may leave and say good luck, and that’ll be the end,” he added. “I may say this is not going to be settled.”

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reinforced this message, calling the summit a “listening session”. But by midweek, he was once again talking up the prospects of a deal, saying that he thinks both Zelensky and Putin want peace.

With Trump, it’s often best to expect the unexpected. And Zelensky and European leaders spoke to him on Wednesday in an effort to ensure that he doesn’t strike a deal with Putin that Ukraine won’t – or can’t – accept.

One thing has been clear practically all year, however: Trump would welcome the chance to be the man who ends the war.

In his inaugural address, he said he wanted his proudest legacy to be that of a “peacemaker”. It is no secret that he longs for the international recognition of a Nobel Peace Prize.

In the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump boasted of all the global conflicts he feels he has successfully resolved since taking office in January. But when asked about the war in Ukraine, he offered a rare acknowledgement of the challenge he now faces.

“I thought the easiest one would be this one,” he said. “It’s actually the most difficult.”

Trump is not one to get bogged down in details. But if there is an opportunity for him to claim that he has made progress toward peace during the talks in Anchorage, he will take it.

Putin, always a savvy negotiator, may seek a way to let Trump do just that – on Russia’s terms, of course.