MOSCOW ¨C U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska on Friday to discuss a ceasefire deal for Ukraine that the U.S. sees as a possible way to end the deadliest war in Europe since World War II.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognizing ¡ª if only informally ¡ª Russian control over one fifth of Ukraine.

Both Trump and Putin are seeking wins from their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House.

Trump, who casts the war as a ¡°bloodbath¡± fraught with escalatory risk, is pressing for a truce in the 3? year-old war that would bolster his credentials as a peacemaker.

For Putin, the summit is already a big win as he can use it to say that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unraveled and that Moscow has retaken its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy.

The summit, the first between a U.S. and Russian leader since 2021, will begin at 11 a.m. Alaska time (4 a.m. Saturday in Japan).

Trump, who once said he would end Russia¡¯s war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven to be a tougher nut to crack than he had thought. He said that if Friday¡¯s talks went well, quickly setting up a subsequent three-way summit with Zelenskyy would be even more important than his encounter with Putin.

One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs that Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine given that Putin understood Russia¡¯s economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war.

It has previously been reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastward and to lift some Western sanctions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, wearing a USSR sweatshirt on his arrival in Alaska, said Moscow never revealed its hand in advance. The Kremlin suggested no documents would be signed at the summit, but praised Trump¡¯s special envoy Steve Witkoff for laying the groundwork for the meeting.

Ukraine and its European allies were heartened by a call on Wednesday in which they said Trump had agreed Ukraine must be involved in any talks about ceding land. Zelenskyy said Trump had also supported the idea of security guarantees for Kyiv.

Russia, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, is vulnerable to additional U.S. sanctions ¡ª and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China...